OMG finally i was able to fix it. I had to generate a new key, and use the proper URL structure there. it was blank from my original install. such a relief my gosh. but as a follow up - my site is now all at w w w(dot)mysite(dot)com and if i want to have no w w w. then can i just do a 301 redirect? i tried this and then the site wouldnt work "too many redirects" error. @LeonidS