What does 'top' show you? Are processes locked, is the box memory bound, have you a runaway script somewhere eating all your cycles? What else is running on the box?
What happens if you issue "apachectl configtest" ? "apachectl graceful" ? What if you shutdown Apache for several seconds and then restart it?
What about the machine---what are its specifications?
What about the network---have you ruled out congestion and connectivity, and name resolution issues? Can you "ping" the server normally? Can you 'telnet' to port 80 and get a response?
Is there a firewall causing problems? A bandwidth limiter such as dummynet?
Do you have a second server that runs at a "normal" speed?
What changes were made prior to this problem appearing?
