session problems

hello all. I am attempting to register two session variables that are in fact class instances. As per instructions, the definitions for these classes are prepended to the files being loaded so the class defs are present when the session starts. If I do this on the first page: session_start(); session_register("off"); session_register("req"); where "off" and "req" are actually class instances and then try this on page two: header("Content-Type: text/plain"); (session_is_registered("req")) ? print("req: yes\n") : print("req: no\n"); (session_is_registered("off")) ? print("off: yes\n") : print("off: no\n"); var_dump($req); var_dump($off); I get a response that both $off and $req are registered variables. however the output of var_dump for $req is null while the output for $off shows the frozen object. If I reverse the order of the session_register on page one, then the var_dump shows values for $req but not $off. I am using DB storage for the sessions. my callback functions are operating - I can see the serialized data in the table for both the $req and the $off class instances. Any clues on where I need to look to solve this one? thanks, Jeff Running Apache 1.3.17 w/ PHP4.0.4pl1 './configure' '--with-apache=../apache_1.3.17' '--enable-track-vars' '--with-xml' '--with-dom' '--with-ibm-db2=/usr/IBMdb2/V6.1/' '--with-zlib' '--with-curl' '--with-pspell' '--with-mcrypt' '--with-sablot' '--enable-sablot-errors-descriptive' '--enable-inline-optimization' '--enable-trans-sid' '--with-config-file-path=/opt/gr/oas/lib/' session data in php.ini is: [Session] session.save_handler = user session.save_path = SESSION session.use_cookies = 1 session.name = XXXXXX (removed) session.auto_start = 0 session.cookie_lifetime = 0 session.cookie_path = / session.cookie_domain = .xxx.com (removed) session.serialize_handler = php session.gc_probability = 1 session.gc_maxlifetime = 600