Ok, first of all, I've read the KB articles here:  https://secure.centova.com/pages/faqs/display/problems_starting_server_server_3

It does not address this situation.

Here's my environment:

[root@centova /home/centovacast/vhosts/ltcm/etc]# php -v
PHP 5.3.8 with Suhosin-Patch (cli) (built: Sep 10 2011 02:50:44)

[root@centova /home/centovacast/vhosts/ltcm/etc]# /usr/local/bin/icecast -v
Icecast 2.3.2

[root@centova /home/centovacast/vhosts/ltcm/etc]# /usr/local/bin/ices -V
ices-cc 0.4.1
Features: LAME Perl python libxml Vorbis FLAC MP4

First, I verify that icecast isn't running:

[root@centova /home/centovacast/vhosts/ltcm/etc]# ps auwx | grep icecast
root        59929  0.0  0.1  7160  2216   1  I+    5:52AM   0:00.00 vi /usr/local/etc/icecast.xml
root        74817  0.0  0.0  9124  1428   4  R+    8:44AM   0:00.00 grep icecast

Then I click on the start server link...

Stream could not be started: Server exited immediately after startup.

Return

Details:
Last 25 lines from the relevant log file:
===============================================================================

[2011-09-10  08:42:22] DBUG stats/modify_node_event update node clients (0)
[2011-09-10  08:43:18] DBUG slave/_slave_thread checking master stream list
[2011-09-10  08:43:26] DBUG stats/modify_node_event update node clients (1)
[2011-09-10  08:43:26] DBUG stats/modify_node_event update node connections (37)
[2011-09-10  08:43:27] DBUG auth/add_authenticated_listener Stats request, sending XSL transformed stats
[2011-09-10  08:43:27] DBUG xslt/xslt_get_stylesheet Using cached sheet 2
[2011-09-10  08:43:27] DBUG fserve/fserve_add_client Adding client to file serving engine
[2011-09-10  08:43:27] DBUG stats/modify_node_event update node client_connections (37)
[2011-09-10  08:43:27] DBUG stats/modify_node_event update node clients (0)
[2011-09-10  08:44:26] INFO sighandler/_sig_die Caught signal 15, shutting down...
[2011-09-10  08:44:26] DBUG connection/_handle_connection Connection thread done
[2011-09-10  08:44:26] INFO main/main Shutting down
[2011-09-10  08:44:27] INFO fserve/fserve_shutdown file serving thread stopped
[2011-09-10  08:44:27] DBUG slave/slave_shutdown waiting for slave thread
[2011-09-10  08:44:27] INFO slave/_slave_thread shutting down current relays
[2011-09-10  08:44:27] INFO slave/_slave_thread Slave thread shutdown complete
[2011-09-10  08:44:27] INFO auth/auth_shutdown Auth shutdown
[2011-09-10  08:44:27] INFO yp/yp_shutdown YP thread down
[2011-09-10  08:44:28] INFO stats/stats_shutdown stats thread finished
[2011-09-10  08:45:23] INFO main/main Icecast 2.3.2 server started
[2011-09-10  08:45:23] DBUG yp/yp_recheck_config Updating YP configuration
[2011-09-10  08:45:23] INFO yp/yp_update_thread YP update thread started
[2011-09-10  08:45:23] WARN source/source_fallback_file unable to open file "web/live"
[2011-09-10  08:45:23] WARN source/source_fallback_file unable to open file "web/autodj"
[2011-09-10  08:45:23] INFO connection/get_ssl_certificate No SSL capability on any configured ports

 Listeners
Offline Server Status
Offline Source Status
No Source Connected

Yet icecast is running...

[root@centova /home/centovacast/vhosts/ltcm/etc]# ps auwx | grep icecast
centovacast 74830  0.0  0.2 29980  6660  ??  Ss    8:45AM   0:00.03 /usr/local/bin/icecast -c /home/centovacast/vhosts/ltcm/etc/ser

And, I can manually stream content via ices-cc...

[centovacast@centova ~/vhosts/ltcm]$ /usr/local/bin/ices -c etc/source.conf
Error while opening var/log//ices.log, error: Permission denied
Logfile opened
Playing /home/centovacast/vhosts/ltcm/var/spool/media/Slaves_To_The_Boogie_EP_(Aeroflot)-BC_002-1(192k).mp3
Mounted on http://xx.xx.xx.xx:9000/autodj


And now the stats read...

Listeners 1
Server Status Offline
Source Status Remote
Source Connected Yes

If I had the source code I could probably patch this, but sadly that's not available.  So I need you guys to tell me what you are looking for to detect the server.  Also ices-cc doesn't seem to start with the start server link either.  Maybe that's the issue.  Dunno.  Hard to say without the source code...  but anyway.

Solution please.  I've been hunting this down for hours now.

PS:  I patched that small permission issue with the ices.log file.  Doesn't help.

Nevermind.  The solution is here:  https://secure.centova.com/pages/faqs/display/centova_cast_on_freebsd_55

Proc wasn't getting mounted on FreeBSD.

I only found out about this after digging through config files that mentioned "portability mode" and a link to that article.