I think you were right Andrea thank you. I changed the primary back to main - that was the problem, however, I had previously attempted to reset password for the primary domain, and logging in with this password produced this error: (I've made sure my FireFox is accepting this cookie)
MESSAGE:
The page isn't redirecting properly
Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.
* This problem can sometimes be caused by disabling or refusing to accept
cookies.
Question: Is there a PHP file I can replace that might re-set things? The problem is I can't get to the primary admin panel anymore so it seems I need to go via FTP.
Also should I try to upgrade to 2.7 beta MU? thx.