I have the same problem! But no solution
When I try to start XAMPP Control Panel I get the following error:
XAMPP Component Status Check failure [3]. Current directory: d:\xampp
Run this program only from your XAMPP root directory.
Shortcut: D:\xampp\xampp-control.exe with path d:\xampp
The same happens if I try to run xampp-control.exe directly from the installation folder.
After the start-up it is not possible to control Apache or / and MySQL. I get the following error: ERROR: -1
If I choose to run the program as administrator I get the same start-up error. But after start-up I can control Apache and MySql. But it is a little bit unstable. The best way at the moment to control Apache and MySql is with the Windows services.
For a long time I run XAMPP 1.7.3. With this version I had no such problems. When 1.7.4 was released I removed 1.7.4 and installed 1.7.4. I did a fresh installation.
Technical information: Xampp 1.7.4 Windows, OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits.