multisite htaccess media files problem

I’ve seen a handful of posts around the internet where folks are having issues with their multiste installations and the proper handling of uploading files (images) into the media library.

When I upload files on any site other than my first site (site ID = 1), the files make it into their respective folder: wp-content/blogs.dir/i/files/yyyy/mm/*

However, it seems the .htaccess file can never properly route the server to serve up the media necessary.

I’ve gone through istentu’s (however he spells his username) 3 point checklist and they all seem to work, even using the ms-files.php checker.

So when I go back into my media library, 1) The thumbnails don’t show up, and 2) The webserver asks me for a Username and Password.

I’d love to get this solved, as it seems I have the some issue on multiple multisite installations I have out there.

Here is how I have my .htaccess (I’ve gone all the way down to the vanilla version):

# BEGIN WordPress
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# uploaded files
RewriteRule ^files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$1 [L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]
# END WordPress

And this is my wp-config.php file:

// You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique prefix
$table_prefix  = 'wp_';   // Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!

// Change this to localize WordPress.  A corresponding MO file for the
// chosen language must be installed to wp-includes/languages.
// For example, install de.mo to wp-includes/languages and set WPLANG to 'de'
// to enable German language support.
define ('WPLANG', '');

define( 'MULTISITE', true );
define( 'SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true );
$base = '/';
define( 'DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', '-------' );
define( 'PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/' );
define( 'SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );
define( 'BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );

/* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */

define( 'SUNRISE', 'on' );

require_once(ABSPATH.'wp-settings.php');
if ( !defined('ABSPATH') )
	define('ABSPATH', dirname(__FILE__) . '/');

?>

I’ve taken out the “secret” stuff, obviously.

Also, I even tried this:

RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?siteN/files/(.+) wp-content/blogs.dir/N/files/$2 [L]

But wasn’t able to make that work. Am I supposed to use one of those per site IDs I have? I tried that, too, and it didn’t work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.