drupal works on linode vps but not on local machine

You're leaving out a lot of information.

Are both machines up to date? Have you updated both machines, so that they run the same php/apache?

Have you enabled php errors? Do you get any errors in the apache logs?

I've had problems with drupals .htaccess before, can't really remember what. If you remove that does it load?

@eranb22:

local computer shows white page

vps shows drupal install page.

A totally random guess:

Check php.ini specifies a memory_limit of at least 32M.

php.ini is in /etc/php4/apache2 on my system.

thanks ….

the drupal from drupal.org is now working , but still there is a white page on my computer when trying the drupal files from hotdrupal.com

php version is 5.1.6

in hotdrupal.they use 5.2.12

===============

Are both machines up to date? Have you updated both machines, so that they run the same php/apache?

they both fresh installed centos 5.3 with same php/apache versions.

Have you enabled php errors? Do you get any errors in the apache logs?

don't know how to enable that

[root@localhost logs]# tail error_log

–-----------

[Sun Feb 14 16:18:18 2010] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in /var/www/html/includes/theme.inc on line 418

[Sun Feb 14 16:18:18 2010] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Notice: Undefined index: minnelli in /var/www/html/includes/theme.inc on line 965

[Sun Feb 14 16:18:18 2010] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in /var/www/html/includes/theme.inc on line 977

[Sun Feb 14 16:18:18 2010] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in /var/www/html/includes/theme.inc on line 986

[Sun Feb 14 16:18:18 2010] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Notice: Undefined index: minnelli in /var/www/html/includes/theme.maintenance.inc on line 217

[Sun Feb 14 16:18:18 2010] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in /var/www/html/includes/theme.maintenance.inc on line 217

[Sun Feb 14 16:18:18 2010] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Warning: array_keys() [function.array-keys]: The first argument should be an array in /var/www/html/includes/theme.maintenance.inc on line 220

[Sun Feb 14 16:18:18 2010] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/includes/theme.maintenance.inc on line 220

[Sun Feb 14 16:18:18 2010] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Warning: include(./themes/garland/maintenance-page.tpl.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /var/www/html/includes/theme.inc on line 1020

[Sun Feb 14 16:18:18 2010] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening './themes/garland/maintenance-page.tpl.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/pear:/usr/share/php') in /var/www/html/includes/theme.inc on line 1020

I see

http://127.0.0.1/index.php

forbidden

You don't have permission to access /index.php on this server.

Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) Server at 127.0.0.1 Port 80

I see

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /index.php on this server.

Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) Server at 127.0.0.1 Port 80

–-----

instead of a white page

Sounds like a simple rights issue, have you checked the rights set on the corresponding php file(s) on your local machine?