404 and then server 500 errors

[foobar]

After installation, the home page loads. Clicking on any of the links or trying to login gives me a 404 error.

SO, I followed the advise on the forums and tried various combinations of rewrite rule changes like RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?/$1 [L], ect. Still 404.

SO, I change the htaccess.txt to .htaccess, but that always returns a 500 server error.

I enabled SEO, and I changed the htaccess RewriteBase to match the directory of elxis.

Any help would be great.

[datahell]

If you get 500 error then either you have that file writeable (chmod it to 644) or you cannot have custom htaccess file (contact your hosting provider).

[foobar]

Checked the permissions on .htaccess and it is 644.  My provider (hostgator) says that .htaccess is permitted.
Don't know how to proceed...

[datahell]

If you wish send me a personal message with access details to your site ftp or your hosting control panel to check it for you.