I think maybe one of two problems could be to blame:
  1) search.conf isn't being loaded at all...which doesn't seem likely
since that would generate a fatal error.
  2) search.conf is not ANSI text or maybe has stray control characters;
maybe the file is Unicode?

Are you running on Windows NT, 2000, XP, or 2003?  Maybe your text
editor has saved the file as Unicode after you edited it.

I inadvertantly saved your config from the email as Unicode.  When I
save as Unicode I get those same errors you are seeing.  When I convert
the file from Unicode to ANSI your config works fine.

So, if you are on an NT-based system then try this:  Open the config
file in Notepad, select File menu, select Save As, make sure ANSI is
selected under the "Encoding" drop-down, then save over top of the
original file.

-- 
 David Norris
  http://www.webaugur.com/dave/
  ICQ - 412039