Hmmm... I wonder if "Premature end of script headers" might be what happens when the script dies with an error message before it has written any valid html header or data. Maybe if you make sure to print your header first, in some way, before that bunch of '... or die "Error message\n";' instructions -- or else make up a subroutine that you call instead of "die", so that you generate some sort of sensible output for the browser (including the error message), then exit.