mysql socket problem

Hello group,

What have i done ?

I am running a webserver on RH7.1 with apache/mysql/php

I have done a tar.gz of my mysql directory which lives in /var/lib.

When i reinstall i have a problem

When i am in /usr/bin and issue ./safe_mysqld & it says that a mysqld process exists

when i ping the server as a none root user it says..

connect to server at localhost failed

cant connect to local mysql sever through socket /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock

check that the mysqld is running
and that the socket exists!

Well there is a mysqld process and there is no mysql.sock in the /var/lib/mysql directory but i have seen one in there in the past.

For reasons i wont go into i have no root access to mysql at present#

Any suggestions would be kindly received

Paul

do you have to be root to establish a tcp ip connection like ..

% mysqladmin -u root -h hostname -p shutdown

i have tried a none root user it but it says access denied..

connect to server at ' ip ' failed

access denied for user; 'user@ip' (using password: YES)

Oh boy!

If you can help ,please reply.

Paul