On a localhost development configuration under Windows XP Pro (SP3), I cannot get Apache2.2.15 http service to start after I enable PHP 5.3.2 as a module. Without PHP, Apache starts and works just fine; PHP itself works (from a command prompt).

I had had Apache 2.2.14 and an older PHP 5.2.x working happily together, supporting MySQL, phpMyAdmin, etc. I uninstalled all that and instead:

(1) Installed Apache 2.2.15 from httpd-2.2.15-win32-x86-no_ssl.msi (also tried the openssl version when the former + PHP didn't work). It's installed as a service for all users on port 80. And I'm running as Administrator. That worked just fine.

(2) Installed PHP 5.3.2 from php-5.3.2-Win32-VC6-x86.msi (thread safe version). As php.net says, with apache.org binaries, I used the VC6 version, not VC9.

Now the apache http service will not start. So of course I never got so far as to try a .php script in the browser.

When that failed, I uninstalled PHP and instead tried to use php-5.3.2-Win32-VC6-x86.zip and configure manually, starting with php.ini-development copied to php.ini and edited as below.

Of course I put the correct entries in Windows system environment variables PATH (starts with D:\Server\PHP\ext;D:\Server\PHP) and PHPRC (D:\Server\PHP).

File httpd.conf is what the Apache installer set up plus my edits in appropriate spots:
My edits to php.ini are:
I'm completely mystified as to what's wrong, but I'm beginning to believe there's a fundamental incompatibility between Apache 2.2.15 and PHP 5.3.2. Any ideas?