My problem is that no matter what I do I continue to get the "you are not logged in" error every time I attempt to login.
Did you modify the index.php file? If yes use the original file, if no in the index.php file:
error_reporting(0);
replace with:
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
ini_set('display_startup_errors', 1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);
Don't forget to change it back after testing.
Is this not compatible with php 5.4?
It is.