Category pages not found on new server

[delvedesign]

I've had a client website running on prestashop for over a year.  The site was on a dedicated server (Cent OS) environment and was running perfectly fine.  However after backing up all the files and db, and transferring over to my new server (much faster, with better spec and same environment) the website loads up fine but all category pages give me a 'Not Found' error which says "The requested URL /category-name/ was not found on this server.

 

I've deleted the .htaccess file, and switched off friendly url's and cleared browser cache and tried to view the category pages, but the links send me back to the homepage.  However all product images are visible.

 

If I delete the .htaccess file, and turn on friendly url's so a new .htaccess file is created, I get the page not found error along with no product images visible.

 

After logging into the BO I can see that all categories do exist and the entire structure is perfectly intact along with all product images.

 

I've tried to regenerate product images with friendly url's switched on and I get the same page not found error with images visible.  I've also tried to regenerate product images with friendly url's switched off and I get the looping to homepage scenario with no images visible.

 

I'm thinking about doing a clean install but I really want to avoid it.  

 

Can anyone help?

 

I am using Prestashop version 1.5.6.2

Edited April 8, 2015 by delvedesign (see edit history)

[parsifal]

Hi delvedesign,

 

Try deleting your browser's cache and your domain's cookies. I've also had similar strange behavior in the past after store migrations, until I did what I just proposed.

 

PS: When I first came upon this problem, I thought that in similar cases, hard refreshing of the page (CTRL + F5 in most desktop browsers) would be enough as it bypasses the browser cache. But it seems that it's not and you need to clear your whole browser's cache (instructions for Mozilla Firefox here).

Edited April 10, 2015 by parsifal (see edit history)