wordpress pagination, links appear but go nowhere when clicked

First let me say that, ive been digging for the past 2 hrs and the problem is that, although
the links do appear on the bottom of the page where i place the function that calls the pagination.

when clicked, the page does nothing.

Ive found countless similar questions on the web (many here on WA ) but when i try to implement
those posts resolutions, the same thing happens. ALL the different pagination methods,loops,functions….and EVEN plugins that i try WORK in that they appear on the page but when clicked, the url changes accordingly but the page content doesn’t change.

So as an example, im using this loop that i found in an “accepted answer” from someone elses question here on SO

function pagination($pages = '', $range = 3){ 
    $showitems = ($range * 2)+1;
    global $paged; if(empty($paged)) $paged = 1;
    if($pages == '') {
        global $wp_query; $pages = $wp_query->max_num_pages; if(!$pages)
    { $pages = 1; } 
}

 if(1 != $pages) { echo "<div class='pagination'><span>Page ".$paged." of ".$pages."</span>";
     if($paged > 2 && $paged > $range+1 && $showitems < $pages) {
         echo "<a href='".get_pagenum_link(1)."'>&laquo; First</a>";
     }
     if($paged > 1 && $showitems < $pages) {
         echo "<a href='".get_pagenum_link($paged - 1)."'>&lsaquo; Previous</a>";
     }

     for ($i=1; $i <= $pages; $i++){
          if (1 != $pages &&( !($i >= $paged+$range+1 || $i <= $paged-$range-1) || $pages <= $showitems )){
               echo ($paged == $i)? "<span class='current'>".$i."</span>":"<a href='".get_pagenum_link($i)."' class='inactive'>".$i."</a>";
        } 

     }

      if ($paged < $pages && $showitems < $pages) echo "<a href='".get_pagenum_link($paged + 1)."'>Next &rsaquo;</a>";
     if ($paged < $pages-1 &&  $paged+$range-1 < $pages && $showitems < $pages) echo "<a href='".get_pagenum_link($pages)."'>Last &raquo;</a>";
     echo "</div>n"; }
 }

and applied the function call to the bottom of my post loop under the endwhile//if so that it doesnt repeat through each post shown on the page, and again, it shows (just like all the others)
but the page itself doesnt do anything.

My question is, with this type of a problem where the links are showing up and all types of different versions ive tried, do appear on the page but when clicked, go nowhere, what is it i could be missing???

do i need to enable pagination somewhere like the way one enables widgets or..or do my pages have to have any type of hook or ….. like when one inserts “” etc…

im at a loss.

thanks in advanced

EDIT***to illustrate what i mean, if you visit this site which is a site im currently working on, http://www.somdowprod.net/4testing/campanita/?page_id=18 i put the per page post count to 3 so that the links show up at the bottom, when clicked, the other posts dont show.