everything goes to page.php template

Hello,

I am unable to get 404.php and date.php to work.

1) When I visit a non-existent page, I am sent to the page.php template instead of 404.php

If I use the is_404() function on the page.php template it does indicate that the page doesn’t exist, so for now, I am using it as a fall back but I would like it to serve 404.php

2) When I try to visit a post via site.com/2013/01 I am also sent to the page.php template (although this does show all of the posts for that date).

Any suggestions?