Wierd problems on install - safe_mode and sessions work only in some installs

I have been having trouble getting Gallery installed, but the symptoms are quite weird. My hosting provider has Gallery pre-configured (1.4.1) and installable, but it doesn't work. I have tried to install it myself and it still doesn't work, but the odd thing is that the reasons are different.

The pre-configured Gallery has safe_mode off, but I can't get the PHP sessions to work correctly. The versions I have installed myself have safe_mode on.

My limited experience with Apache has always been that the configuration is per-directory, so I installed the pre-configured one and copied my own installation into that directory. I figured that the safe_mode would be off for that installation, but that was not the case.

I even tried Gallery2, but again safe_mode was on. Another problems seems to be that in one of my installs, the .htaccess file works fine, but not in the others.

Here is a synopsis of the symptoms:

photos2 (Gallery 1.4.1-pl1):
(This is the one that is pre-configured)
Sessions don't work
safe_mode is OFF
Apache doesn't obey .htaccess

photos3 (Gallery 1.5-pl1):
Sessions work
safe_mode is ON
.htaccess files work fine

photos4 (Gallery 1.4.4-pl6):
Sessions work
safe_mode is ON
Apache doesn't obey .htaccess

photos5 (Gallery 2.0):
safe_mode is ON (can't get any farther)

----Standard Stuff----

Gallery URL (optional but very useful):
<strong>www.mdbfamily.net/photos2
www.mdbfamily.net/photos3
www.mdbfamily.net/photos4
www.mdbfamily.net/photos5/gallery2
</strong>

Gallery version:
<strong>1.4.1-pl1
1.5-pl1
1.4.4-pl6
2.0
</strong>

Apache version: <strong>2.0.51</strong>
PHP version (don't just say PHP 4, please): <strong>4.3.10</strong>
Graphics Toolkit: <strong>NetPNM</strong>
Operating system: <strong>Fedora</strong>
Web browser/version (if applicable): <strong>Firefox 1.06, IE 6.0</strong>