Admin area not showing on Local install

WordPress 3.3.1.
MAC OSX 10.6.8
MAMP
PHP Version 5.2.6

My local install is a mirror of a live site. The live site is up and running ok.
Last night I downloaded all the files and the db to work on the site locally.

I’ve updated wp_options with the local url in siteurl and home in sql.

The site loads, and I can navigate around site as usual.
I can login at mysite.local/wp-login.php

But once logged in and the redirect tries to go to mysite.local/wp-admin
nothing shows up. (looking at source there is no html).

The directory structure is fine and all the files are where they’re meant to be.

When I return to the home page, the admin bar is shown at the top, showing that I am actually logged in. However if I use the drop down and try to go to the dashboard, same problem, redirect to: mysite.local/wp-admin is completely blank

info:
——————————————————–
htaccess in root:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

hosts file:

127.0.0.1       mysite.local

httpd.conf:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName mysite.local
DocumentRoot /Volumes/myHardDrive/htdocs/mysite
</VirtualHost>

also tried adding to wp-config.php:

define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'mysite.local’);

this is driving me nuts! been trying to figure this our for 3 hours.