database records--Cannot retrieve and display

[davt55]

This is a very frustrating problem. I can't even get an error msg. I need to retrieve and display my database records. Would appreciate any help at all.

$query = "SELECT * FROM chesstable ORDER BY chapter, lastname";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die('Could not connect' . mysql_error());

echo mysql_num_rows($result);
If (!$result) {
    $message = 'Invalid query: ' . mysql_error();
        $message = 'Whole query: ' . $query;
        die ($message);
  }

while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
  echo $row['firstname'] . " " . $row['lastname'] . $row['chapter'];
  }
mysql_free_result($result);
mysql_close($dbc);
?>

MOD EDIT: PHP bbcode tags added.

[jeepin81]

Is your connection to the DB successful?

[TheDefender]

Post the rest of your code (where you connect to the DB with the $dbc variable).