this works pefectly fine for me, and can go over 1000
code:
<?PHP
$file="hitscount.dat";
$handle=fopen($file, "r+");
$hits=fread($handle,filesize("$file"));
$hits+=1;
fclose($handle);
$handle=fopen($file, "w");
fwrite($handle, $hits);
fclose($handle);
?>
just change hitcounter.dat to some filename and then run the page, the dat file should be created automaticly. but you will get a error on first run.