Are you running through a proxy server? (Even if you haven't configured one yourself, it's possible your ISP is running one invisibly.) I have the first problem all the time with FT. As a result of the poor design of FT's software, a proxy server has no reason to think it needs to get a new copy of the page, so it doesn't do so.

As to the second problem, I'll guess you're using IE. Some version of IE have a known problem whereby they don't do a proper reload when you ask them to, when working through a proxy. (In Netscape you can force a complete reload of a page, ignoring caches, by using shift-reload. In IE, there's no way to do it, unless you clear out your cache.)