the link is generated in one document like this:
board.php
echo("<a href=\"drop.php?id=" . urlencode($data["n_id"]) ."\"> DROP</a>\n");
.
and in drop.php?id=1 variable $HTTP_GET_VARS is not set. 
if (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS["id"])){
   $n_id = $HTTP_GET_VARS["id"];
}else{
   $n_id = 0;
}
This worked on WinNT5.0 with apache 1.3.14 and PHP 4.0.4pl1 as a module.  
I've compiled apache and PHP as a static module.  

./cofigure --with-mysql --with-apache=../apache_1.3.19

Was $data['n_id'] non-empty in board.php?

Your script works fine for me when I add $data['n_id'] = 1;

valiables_order is set to EGPCS. I tried EPCSG but it did not work either. 

$data["id"] was non empty.

The computer in question is i486 with 12 MB RAM. Could that be a problem? 

The system speed wouldn't impact behavior, no.

Your script refers to $data['n_id'] though, not $data['id'].  Let's remove any confusion and work with a very basic script:

<a href="<? echo $PHP_SELF ?>"?getvariable=working>Click here</a>
Getvariable is: <? echo $HTTP_GET_VARS['getvariable'] ?>

Try that one out.

It doesn't work either and $PHP_SELF is empty as well. I did not know that, because I didn't use it my scripts. 

I've recompiled php and apache and it works. 

Thanks anyway

just turn on the register_globals directive in php.ini and restart apache.

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