Windows 2003 Server - Strangeness!

[B3ndy]

Hello Everybody!

Firstly long time lurker first time poster, this is a great community here and your many excellent posts have really helped out in the past.

Now its my first post, so be kind! I have been doing a lot of research into this strange problem, but if I have been a n00b and missed an answer somewhere, apologies.

So here is my situation, I am running a Windows 2003 server (the full version) and have been happily using PHP 5 for a while, however it stopped working, I don't know exactly when as there are currently no critical applications using PHP. When I noticed this I did a little bit of research and decided it was probably a good idea to reinstall PHP 5.2, I consider myself quite knowledgeable with installing php as I have done it a fair few times, however to be safe I always follow the guide on php.net.

Now this is the strange thing, for the first time ever php isn't working. I want to run the ISAPI, and have set the correct Web Service Extension and application extensions in IIS. The permissions are set correctly, as are environment variables and I know it should be correct as I have done this a fair few times.

If I run phpinfo the server isn't displaying anything, well apart from the excellent blank page of doom. If I view source I can just see <? phpinfo() ?>, but here is the strange thing, if I wrap it with tags, ie:

<?php
        echo phpinfo();
?>

It works a treat!

I think something must be up with the server configuration if I am honest, but I thought I would chuck a post up here just if I am missing something obvious.

Anyway, its a bit of a pain!

Ben ???

[B3ndy]

Solved it, short tags were turned off.