I downloaded Apache Tomcat 6.0.2 And created a new server in Eclipse
From the top of my head, I thought Eclipse started the tomcat server without anything in it, i.e. no web applications. You have to 'run' or actually deploy something in that Eclipse Tomcat server so you won't get the 404s.
The fact that you do get 404 error messages indicates that Tomcat actually IS running. If you shut it down from Eclipse, you won't get those 404's anymore ;)
I agree to drvdijk.
Go to "Servers" window, then select your Tomcat instance. Double.click here you will see the "overview" window. Here you can click on "Open launch configuration" to see your Tomcat arguments ("Arguments" tab).
Look for the system property "-Dwtp.deploy". This directory is where your Tomcat is looking for installed web applications, i think you don't have ROOT.war application here. Isn't it? :-)
Hope this will help you
i think the problem is http://localhost:8080/ when you should use http://localhost:8080/appname
Also, notice if you have a duplicated WEB-INF in your path. Sometimes after update a maven project you may have this issue and Tomcat points to an empty folder.