httpd dead

E-Smith v 4.1 the Apache server drops out, irregularly, eg. once a week or two. Using the command:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd status
the response is:
httpd dead but subsys locked
The http server always starts again with:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd start
or by rebooting the server, but either way it drops out again eventually.
Sorry to put it all here, but the /var/log/messages follows at the end of this post.
The e-smith server is set up as a standalone (one nic) for caching proxy server and proxy auto-config (hence the problem with the http server dropping: the proxy.pac file becomes un-available), and its ip address is assigned manually and does not change.
My question is why the log message about ip address changes? Also, its ip is 10.0.0.15. The address noted in the messages log is 192.168.65.17 which is a different network completely!
BTW I've had no success upgrading my server to 4.1.2 but would just like to have a stable web server. Can someone give me some help on how to upgrade just the apache server software? Would this help or is the drop-out issue an e-smith setup thing?

Thanks,
-Neil-

/var/log/messages follows:

[root@gbl-e-smith log]# vi messages
Nov 4 04:08:37 gbl-e-smith syslogd 1.3-3: restart.
Nov 4 04:08:37 gbl-e-smith syslogd 1.3-3: restart.
Nov 4 04:08:37 gbl-e-smith syslogd 1.3-3: restart.
Nov 4 04:22:01 gbl-e-smith e-smith[19132]: Processing event: ip-change 192.168.65.17
Nov 4 04:22:01 gbl-e-smith e-smith[19132]: Running event handler: /etc/e-smith/events/ip-change/S15set-external-ip
Nov 4 04:22:02 gbl-e-smith e-smith[19132]: Running event handler: /etc/e-smith/events/ip-change/S16restart-masq
Nov 4 04:22:02 gbl-e-smith e-smith[19132]: Running event handler: /etc/e-smith/events/ip-change/S47proftpd-conf
Nov 4 04:22:03 gbl-e-smith e-smith-bg:
Nov 4 04:22:03 gbl-e-smith e-smith-bg: Shutting down IP masquerade and firewall rules:^I^IDone!
Nov 4 04:22:03 gbl-e-smith e-smith-bg:
Nov 4 04:22:04 gbl-e-smith e-smith[19132]: Running event handler: /etc/e-smith/events/ip-change/S50conf-security
Nov 4 04:22:05 gbl-e-smith e-smith[19132]: Running event handler: /etc/e-smith/events/ip-change/S55conf-httpd
Nov 4 04:22:06 gbl-e-smith e-smith[19132]: Running event handler: /etc/e-smith/events/ip-change/S75restart-httpd-full
Nov 4 04:22:07 gbl-e-smith e-smith[19132]: Running event handler: /etc/e-smith/events/ip-change/S80pptpd-conf
Nov 4 04:22:08 gbl-e-smith e-smith[19132]: Running event handler: /etc/e-smith/events/ip-change/S85update-dns
Nov 4 04:22:09 gbl-e-smith e-smith[19132]: Running event handler: /etc/e-smith/events/ip-change/S90pptpd-restart
Nov 4 04:22:09 gbl-e-smith httpd-e-smith: Shutting down http: succeeded
Nov 4 04:22:09 gbl-e-smith e-smith-bg: Shutting down http: [ OK ]^M
Nov 4 04:22:09 gbl-e-smith e-smith[19132]: Running event handler: /etc/e-smith/events/ip-change/S90restart-ntpd
Nov 4 04:22:11 gbl-e-smith ntpd: ntpd shutdown failed
Nov 4 04:22:11 gbl-e-smith e-smith-bg: Shutting down ntpd: [ FAILED ]^M
Nov 4 04:22:14 gbl-e-smith httpd-e-smith: Starting httpd: succeeded
Nov 4 04:22:14 gbl-e-smith e-smith-bg: Starting httpd: [ OK ]^M
Nov 5 10:24:52 gbl-e-smith sshd[21127]: Accepted password for ROOT from 10.0.31.237 port 1305 ssh2
Nov 5 10:24:52 gbl-e-smith PAM_unix[21127]: (sshd) session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Nov 5 10:26:07 gbl-e-smith httpd: httpd startup succeeded
"messages" 31L, 2635C