system - preferences - general settings - and turned on php debug
then i refreshed my XOOPS page, and got an error associated with the shopping cart for xosc. i turned off the shopping cart block, refreshed, and it was okay. i went back in, turned the block back on, and refreshed and it was okay also. went into the settings again, turned off debug, and it's still okay...
so i guess it's solved. odd though.