Stumped: vars not passed!!!

I'm going mad. I've been trying to implement sessions so it will work backward on my older 4.0.3 server ( I'm working on a 4.1.2), with no success as of yet, but I think it's my 4.1.2 that's causing this, as the app in the following example works perfectly on the older one. Note, I have explicitly used the manual URl method to pass variables and NOT the $HTTP_POST_VARS['x'] method as I am suspecting that my register_globals is not working. PS, register_globals, track vars etc IS on on both systems. Look at this: index.php <form action="page1.php" method="POST" enctype="multipart/form-data"> <input type="text" name="username"><br> <input type="text" name="password"><br> <input type="submit" name="submit"> </form> page1.php <a href="page2.php?username=<?=$username?>&password=<?=$password?>">Next</a> page2.php <form action="page3.php" method="POST" enctype="multipart/form-data"> <input type="text" name="test"> <input type="hidden" name="username" value="<?=$username?>"> <input type="hidden" name="password" value="<?=$password?>"> <input type="submit" name="submit"> </form> page3.php Username: <?=$username?> <br> Password: <?=$password?> <br> Test: <?=$test?> <br> This DOES NOT work on my 4.1.2 system. Why? I know page2 is not needed, but it is still supposed to work right? I deliberatly put it there to "extend" the path the variable needs to piggy back to see where I lose them, but on my system it loses the vars right at the second page already!!!!