I'm getting the exact same error message, but changing the host to 127.0.0.1 didn't fix it. I can see mysqld-opt in my processes, as well as connect to mysql through sqlyog using both 127.0.0.1 and localhost. Any ideas where to investigate further? edit: I'm setting up a local environment for easier editing of my live website. The page I'm having trouble with is the phpbb3 script. I changed the connection details in the config.php file for it. The version of phpmyadmin included with uniserver also works for me. Exact error message: SQL ERROR [ mysql4 ] A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. [2002] An sql error occurred while fetching this page. Please contact an administrator if this problem persists.