This is driving me bananas. I have tried multiple fixes, and have even found a generator (generateit.net/mod-rewrite/) to create my .htaccess files, but I cannot get this to work.

The .htaccess file is being read - if I put garbage characters in, I get a 500 server error. Also, mod rewrite was working in a simpler format, but the client wants even more SEO, so here I am.

My intention:

Take the url of brinkofdesign.com/portfolio/123/456/some_seo_text.html and send it to brinkofdesign.com/brink_portfolio.php?catid=123&locationid=456.

The full contents of my .htaccess file are:

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /

RewriteRule ^portfolio([^/]*)/([^/]*)/([^/]*)\.html$ /portfolio_brink.php?catid=$1&locationid=$2&page=$3 [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)blog(.+)([0-9+])(.+).html$ blog.php?blogid=$3 [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^blog.xml$ blogfeed.php

The blog and blogfeed parts work fine.

If it matters, I do have an actual portfolio.php page - could this be breaking it? There is no actual /portfolio/ folder - this is just part of the SEO nme. Also, the host is 1and1.com.

Real life tests:

brinkofdesign.com/portfolio/1/1/birmingham_al_corporate_branding.html loads my actual portfolio.php page - which is supposed to be a landing page for the portfolio, as opposed to the brink_portfolio.php page, which is my detail record page. No variables are passed (echoing out the contents of the $_GET array gives an empty array).

Typing in an non SEO link like brinkofdesign.com/brink_portfolio.php?catid=1&locationid=1 does work correctly.

Gurus, please help me!