Awkward apache behavior

[mens]

On my local test machine, running WinXp SP3, I've got xampp and wamp.

Both of them service different purposes, and was was always running smoothly.

 

Yesterday, I upgraded xampp PHP version to 5.3.2 manually, I didn't re-install the whole xampp because I did not want to lose my current configuration files.

The thing now is: apache won't start, logs holds nothing.

System event viewer says that "libapr-1.dll" is, and I'm quoting... "faulty". In addition, a error dialog apears when starting httpd, saying that memory can't be read, and refers back to "libapr-1.ddl".

I have searched google, and no solutions have been posted there.

 

Xampp and Wamp are shutdown, and when started doesn't show any active service.

I've run netstat -a -b, and it doesn't show any port open for 80 or 443.

Later, I ran nmap -sS to see if WinXP isn't lying, and sure enough, it picked up that ports 80 and 443 was open, though mysql wasn't.

When trying to browse port 80 in my browser, it does actually load, but at very slow speeds and then fails for anything else browsed.

 

When trying to start apache, it gives me an "failed to 'read' memory. Another thing, when starting Apache manually(httpd -k start), it always says that the pid file existed at time of execution; even though I tried to delete the pid file.

 

At this point, reinstalling apache won't work, as "some" previous instance is already active.

 

Does anyone have ideas why this is happening, and how I could repair it?

Any help is appreciated.

 

Edit: if anyone knows how to kill the process, or a utility that can, that'll also work.

[PFMaBiSmAd]

The only thing that comes to mind is if you got the php binary that was complied with the opposite Windows complier, VC6 vs VC9, from the complier that was used for Apache or some of the XAMPP files.