How to update .htaccess in wordpress?

I was trying to change my permalinks so they'd be search engine friendly, but when I did I got a 404 error. Wordpress said I needed to update .htaccess and that my .htaccess wasn't writeable. I'm looking in the folders via FTP and I dont see that file anywhere. So I tried to create my own and then I got an internal server error.

I'm using version 2.3 or something and I installed it through Fantastico. Anyone know what the problem might be?

Some FTP client's don't display the .htaccess and since your old .htaccess file you had on your server had certain settings that were deleted is what is causing the "Internal Server Error".

Try to get a backup copy of your old .htaccess or through your WP Admin area remove the Permalinks and try again.

Perhaps you could try to search for it via the file manager?

Some FTP client's don't display the .htaccess and since your old .htaccess file you had on your server had certain settings that were deleted is what is causing the "Internal Server Error".

Im not sure about that. It's only when I uploaded my own .htaccess that I got the error. Once I deleted it everything was fine. And even if I couldn't see it, FTP would've told me that it was being over written.

There doesn't appear to be any old .htaccess in the admin area either.

Thanks for the help though.