htaccess issue

[oarecare]

i am using a site-wide php.ini and virtual directory support
my problem is with the error redirects... they do not get done (they work perfectly with virtual directory disabled)

.htaccess
ErrorDocument 404 /404.shtml
<IfModule mod_suphp.c>
suPHP_ConfigPath /home/********/
<Files php.ini>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>
</IfModule>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.example.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [L,R=301]
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]


of course, example.com changed to my sitename
i can access http://www.example.com/404.shtml, and if it is the only line in .htaccess, 404 redirects to it. but not in this example...

any help will be much appreciated.

[oarecare]

anybody???