Problem Details (from
      mysql documentations, www.mysql.com):
      
      Can't connect to
      [local] MySQL server  error
      A MySQL client on Unix can connect to the mysqld
      server in two different ways: Unix sockets, which connect through a file
      in the file system (default `/tmp/mysqld.sock') or TCP/IP, which
      connects through a port number. Unix sockets are faster than TCP/IP but
      can only be used when connecting to a server on the same computer. Unix
      sockets are used if you don't specify a hostname or if you specify the
      special hostname localhost. 
      On Windows you can connect only with
      TCP/IP if the mysqld  server is running on Win95/Win98. If
      it's running on NT, you can also connect with named pipes. The name of the
      named pipe is MySQL. If you don't give a hostname when connecting to mysqld,
      a MySQL client will first try to connect to the named pipe, and if this
      doesn't work it will connect to the TCP/IP port. You can force the use of
      named pipes on Windows by using .  as the hostname. 
      The error (2002) Can't connect to
      ...  normally means that there isn't a MySQL server running on the
      system or that you are using a wrong socket file or TCP/IP port when
      trying to connect to the mysqld  server. 
      Start by checking (using ps
      or the task manager on Windows) that there is a process running named mysqld
      on your server! If there isn't any mysqld  process, you
      should start one. 
      If a mysqld  process is
      running, you can check the server by trying these different connections
      (the port number and socket pathname might be different in your setup, of
      course): 
      shell> mysqladmin version
shell> mysqladmin variables
shell> mysqladmin -h `hostname` version variables
shell> mysqladmin -h `hostname` --port=3306 version
shell> mysqladmin -h 'ip for your host' version
shell> mysqladmin --socket=/tmp/mysql.sock version
 
      Note the use of backquotes rather than
      forward quotes with the hostname  command; these cause the
      output of hostname  (that is, the current hostname) to be
      substituted into the mysqladmin  command. 
      Here are some reasons the Can't
      connect to local MySQL server  error might occur: 
      
      If you get the error message Can't
      connect to MySQL server on some_hostname, you can try the following
      things to find out what the problem is : 
      
        - Check if the server is up by doing 
telnet
          your-host-name tcp-ip-port-number  and press Enter a couple of
          times. If there is a MySQL server running on this port you should get
          a responses that includes the version number of the running MySQL
          server. If you get an error like telnet: Unable to connect to
          remote host: Connection refused, then there is no server
          running on the given port.
         - Try connecting to the 
mysqld
          daemon on the local machine and check the TCP/IP port that mysqld
          it's configured to use (variable port) with mysqladmin
          variables.
         - Check that your 
mysqld
          server is not started with the --skip-networking  option. 
       
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