Topic: The connection was refused when attempting to contact localh

[NellyMcCool]

I have been using Apache 2.2 with php and mysql for about a year with no problems. However, suddenly without changing any settings, when I enter "localhost" and alias paths to whatever site Im working on, into my browser, I get the message "Failed to Connect. The connection was refused when attempting to contact localhost.Though the site seems valid, the browser was unable to establish a connection." This happens on all browsers. I have checked the httpd.conf file in apache, and it is listening to port 80. When I enter 127.0.0.1 and the alias, instead of the word "localhost" it works. I have tried changing to port 8080, but the same problem happens. Can anybody explain this? Thanks so much for your generous help in advance!

[glsmith]

Sounds like something may have changed your host file.

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (no file extension)

make sure you see a line

127.0.0.1 localhost

inside the file.

[NellyMcCool]

Woo Hoo it worked!! Thank you so much glsmith. Its incredible how time consuming a little problem like that is when you dont know where to look. When I get more experience, I will definitely use any skill I have to help others!