i've downloaded and installed apache (via tar.gz). i type:

#/usr/local/apache/bin/apachectrl start

and server shows no errors. but when i try to enter http://localhost with my browser i says that the connection was refused. i don't know why it won't work. the strangest thing is that i've previously installed apache and started the server the same way i do now and it worked! please help me.

Are you sure its running:

ps -aux | grep httpd

Also what does running apachectl configtest give you, does it come back with syntax ok? And your not running any type of firewall that is blocking port 80 requests?

well i don't know if i'm running a firewall (i am just a newbie). during the installation process i selected to customize my firewall settings and i've chosen 'allow incoming http and ftp'. when i run configtest it says: Syntax OK; ps -aux | grep httpd gives me the following message:

root 3708 0.0 0.1 2352 988 ? S 10:23 0:00 /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd
nobody 3709 0.0 0.1 2364 960 ? S 10:23 0:00 [httpd]
nobody 3710 0.0 0.1 2364 960 ? S 10:23 0:00 [httpd]
nobody 3711 0.0 0.1 2364 960 ? S 10:23 0:00 [httpd]
nobody 3712 0.0 0.1 2364 960 ? S 10:23 0:00 [httpd]
nobody 3713 0.0 0.1 2364 960 ? S 10:23 0:00 [httpd]
root 3776 0.0 0.1 3752 688 pts/1 S 10:27 0:00 grep httpd

i don't know exactly what does it mean. however i'd tend to say that this problem is caused by firewall. how can i disable it on port 80?

What's the name of your machine? Have you tried the actual hostname instead of 127.0.0.1 or the actual IP of your own machine in the browser cause from my standpoint, apache is running from what you've provided.

i disabled iptables and rebooted my machine. i initially logged in as root and reinstalled apache after that i've started it and when i typed http://localhost in my browser it has shown me the page i expected to see (i mean you've configured apache correctly bla bla bla). but than i deleted all files from htdocs directory and created my own test file. it didn't worked i was still displayed 'you've...'. after i restarted server and logged in as 'normal user' it worked correctly. well i'd guess everything is fine now, but shouldn't apache automatically refresh htdocs content?