Cron - Not Working - Apache

I did not realize the significance of the Apache sub-forum. I thought perhaps this would be a more general Server management query, but I realize now I should have posted in Apache forum.

I have been banging my head against the wall for the last couple of days trying to get cron jobs working. It's actually making me quite depressed, a lot of people are waiting on me to get this working, and for the life of me I see no light. I'm not a stupid person, i'm a PHP developer, and have some linux skills. This is the single most annoying issue I have had to deal with simply because I cannot find any troubleshooting methods to my issue.

I have tried every different combination of command under the sun and I cannot get any sign that the cron is running the commands.

I own a "virtual" dedicated server with a hosting company, I have full root access. Linux / Apache

The script file is a PHP file which simply mail() an email saying that cron is working, I am yet to receive this mail that was executed by cron.

I have ensured there are no errors in this simple PHP file, I have executed the script from the shell and all is well there..

So, firstly I tried to setup the cron table from CPanel, on the account where the script resides.

I used the following command combinations:
Code:
0-59 * * * * /usr/local/bin/php /home/username/public_html/cron.php
0-59 * * * * php -q /home/username/public_html/cron.php
0-59 * * * * php /home/username/public_html/cron.php
0-59 * * * * cd "/home/username/public_html/"; php cron.php
0-59 * * * * wget [url]
with time combinations of:
* * * * *
to get the command to be executed evey minute, for testing purposes.

All these commands work fine when executed through the shell.

I set the mail address for cron output to be my mail address also.

I do not get any mail from cpanel with an overview of the cron executions.

I then gave up trying to get cron to work on that account, and decided to go root.

I logged into the shell via root, checked the cron table for root. I edited the root cron table (that contains commands for various cpanel scripts etc) to include a command to execute the php script, even with the script residing on the root directory.

I also added MAILTO="myemail@email.com" to the first line of the cron table.

I do not get any emails of the cron actions.

How can I check if the cron scheduler is working when I get no sign that the cron commands are being executed, and when I do not receive any cron emails? What methods are there for me to troubleshoot this issue?

Could it be possible that cron shedular is not active on my server?

I have lurked the net with great detail to find any method to troubleshoot my issue, and all the related pages I find are to do with troubleshooting the commands. I know my commands are fine, there is some other issue here.