[Learner29]

> You need to put an .htaccess file like this in the /forums/archive folder:
> ErrorDocument 404 /forums/archive/index.php
> Change forums to the correct folder name for you board directory. This is
all that's required along with the index.php and the class.mysql.php
files.

thank you so much for trying to help.
this .htaccess file in the "archive" subfolder of the "vb" folder is
something I triple checked.
The file is there, and it is working, and this is why when clicking on any
of those broken links generated on the /vb/archive/index.php page, the page
itself is reloaded, for it is itself the 404 page.