base_url() doesn't work

[eluser]macleodjb[/eluser]
hi guys i'm new to codeigniter. So i'm kinda following the tutorials. I have configured base url in my config file but when i go to use the variable it does not work. Any reasons?

Also php seems to die when it's embedded in a [removed] tag.

I'm running locally on my hard drive with apache 2.2 and php5.