session.cookie_lifetime problem

I have a very strange problem. If i change the session.cookie_lifetime value on the php.ini file session variables stop working. if a set the cookies lifetime (session.cookie_lifetime = 0) to 0 (live until the browser is close) everything works ok, but if i set this value to anything else the session variables stop working !!!!. i test the problems with this code <?php session_register("count"); $count++; ?> Hello visitor, you have seen this page <? echo $count; ?> times.<p> <php? # the <?=SID?> is necessary to preserve the session id # in the case that the user has disabled cookies ?> To continue, <A HREF="nextpage.php">click here</A> if i use <?=SID?> on the url everything works ok. This is my php.ini [Session]: [Session] session.save_handler = files session.save_path = /tmp session.use_cookies = 1 session.name = PHPSESSID session.auto_start = 0 session.cookie_lifetime = 100 session.cookie_path = / session.cookie_domain = session.serialize_handler = php session.gc_probability = 1 session.gc_maxlifetime = 1440 session.referer_check = session.entropy_length = 0 session.entropy_file = ; session.entropy_length = 16 ; session.entropy_file = /dev/urandom session.cache_limiter = nocache session.cache_expire = 180 i look for any reported bug in every place i know but i can´t get any answer !!!!!!