Why isn't the Minecraft server working?

I'm trying to portforward a minecraft server and I have the portforwarding part done it's just when I go to open the minecraft server it doesn't load chunks and all that. I downloaded the minecraft server off minecraft.net and put it in a new folder and then when I open it, it just stays blank. In the "log and chat" box there should be a bunch of files and things coming up and it should say updating chunks and stuff but its not it just stays blank and when I go to minecraft and search the server I can find it but can't join. So what's going on here and how do I fix it?