XAMPP-Netbeans debug unreliable

[berniev]

Using XAMPP 1.73, Netbeans 6.8 PHP, XP SP3, all default with recommended changes to php.ini re zend, xdebug etc.
I just can't get debug to work reliably. Same with 1.72 and earlier Netbeans.
Setting a watch is certain to crash with sockets error. Local variables not displayed.
After an error apache runs slow for quite some time, even after restarting all apps and apache.

Solutions I've seen are inconsistent and often address older versions.

Is there a definitive solution? XAMP is great, and as a relative noob I kinda expect this is a clean configuration and should almost work 'out of the box', but it doesn't.

Help? Please?

[Izzy]

Is Netbeans compatible with PHP 5.3 as both XAMPP 1.7.3 and 1.7.2 have PHP 5.3 included?

Perhaps check with their web site.

[berniev]

According to NetBeans web site re v6.8: "Supported technologies: ... PHP 5.3, 5.2, 5.1 ..."
However, had similar problems with earlier versions of XAMPP/Netbeans. Have been upgrading in tandem.