Minifrontpage only pulling 404 Page

It's still on a localhost. the version i converted from 1.5 to 2.5 to 3.4 works fine. the version i converted from 1.5 to 3.4 is not pulling the articles (they exist in the database, are viewable from the website). the only thing I can think is different is the prefix and table name.

sorry meant the prefix of the table name and the database name are the only thing different. Also I can't use the 1.5 to 2.5 to 3.4 migration, because the data is a year old.

If it's not working I can't push it live. If the articles exist, and are viewable through the site and menus in both instances. The only difference between the 2 instances are the database name and the table prefixes. The module loads with no errors. The one instance pulls all articles, i can even select sub categories. The newest instance only pulls the "404 page" if select all categories, if i select the category it belongs to the results is blank. There are now error (php, javascript, mysql). Could it be an issue with database lookup? it's not like some pages aren't being pulled into the minifront page module, it's that all are not being pulled except for the "404 page".

TYPO: *There are no errors (php, javascript, mysql).

if i change the configuration and point the database to the the other instance (jooml 1.5 -> 2.5 -> 3.4) the mini frontpage pulls all the content articles.

does this help any? is there any settings with the categories or article it needs to be set to that is causing the mini frontpage quey to only pull the "404" page into the list of articles under "all categories"?