Hmm.. odd but testnet won't work for me:
./bitcoind -daemon -testnet -rpcuser=hungry -rpcpassword=forfood -rpcport=8332
results in the following log:
Bitcoin version 0.3.25-beta
Default data directory /home/randomuser/.bitcoin
Bound to port 18333
Loading addresses...
dbenv.open strLogDir=/home/randomuser/.bitcoin/testnet/database strErrorFile=/home/randomuser/.bitcoin/testnet/db.log
Loaded 0 addresses
addresses 28ms
Loading block index...
LoadBlockIndex(): hashBestChain=00000007199508e34a9f height=0
block index 0ms
Loading wallet...
nFileVersion = 32500
fGenerateBitcoins = 0
nTransactionFee = 0
fMinimizeToTray = 0
fMinimizeOnClose = 0
fUseProxy = 0
addrProxy = 127.0.0.1:9050
wallet 44ms
Done loading
mapBlockIndex.size() = 1
nBestHeight = 0
setKeyPool.size() = 101
mapPubKeys.size() = 102
mapWallet.size() = 0
mapAddressBook.size() = 1
0 addresses found from DNS seeds
ThreadRPCServer started
sending: version (85 bytes)
pv4 eth0: MYSERVERIP
addrLocalHost = MYSERVERIP:18333
ThreadSocketHandler started
ThreadIRCSeed started
ThreadOpenConnections started
ThreadMessageHandler started
connect() failed after select(): No route to host
IRC connect failed
IRC waiting 71 seconds to reconnect
ThreadRPCServer method=getinfo
keypool reserve 2
keypool return 2
at which point bitcoind simply hangs and no blocks are ever downloaded.
The sticky part appears to be the inability to connect to MYSERVERIP:18333. I've just replace MYSERVERIP there. No, that doesn't show up as 127.0.0.1 or localhost.
What is going on here?
So either your network is down, or something is blocking your connection to IRC.