"I setup just by making a copy of a working server."
Is this a VM environment? running aolserver3.x?
I raised the nsparam stacksize from [expr 128*1024] to [expr 256*1024] in one (as part of a tuning exercise).
On restart, aolserver began responding with oddly broken html pages through the templating system.
I set the nsparam stacksize to its original setting, restarted and the problem went away...