what in PHP server setup would cause $_REQUEST to be empty?
Check two directives
1) request_orderhttp://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.request-order
2) variables_orderhttp://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.variables-order
Verify your php.ini configuration. There is an option request_order that must be set to "On" and Value to be "GP" for Get and Post.
It's turned off.. But here's what mine looks like on my local ini from WAMP.
; request_order; Default Value: None; Development Value: "GP"; Production Value: "GP"