HELP: php4.1.1, oci8 functions, Oracle 9i and VARCHAR2 selects no t working

Hi All, I have seen a lot of discussion about this - but no real solutions :) I am getting a two task communication error whenever I try to select a varchar2 element in a query in php4. I seem to be able to select any other kinds of data without hassle. All of my environment variables are set correctly, and I have experimented at length with different NLS_LANG values. The client machine is Mandrake Linux, running php 4.1.1 with oracle and oci8 support compiled in. SQL*Net is able to query the remote db server without any problems at all. Has *anyone* got any experience with Oracle9i and PHP that might be able to help? I would rather use MySQL in a heartbeat, but Oracle9i is a client requirement. Cheers, Brad