mod_rewrite, index.php etc

[eluser]tomcode[/eluser]

when I remove the .htm from the url_suffix in the config file, it works fine, but when I leave it in, it doesn’t

What URL's are You using ?

somewhere in my rewrite conditions, I have to strip off .htm from any requests made

The url_suffix setting is meant to have URL's which ends in .htm or whatever You specify without the need to do any further manipulation.