I am new to mysql and am having some problems. Whenever I start up the server with /etc/rc.d/mysql start it starts up great. I have been able to run a few tests that show some of the server's internal variables etc, so I am able to communicate with it. Whenever I try to change the root password I get this: root@maniac:/var/lib/mysql > mysqladmin -u root -p password Enter password: mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed error: 'Access denied for user: 'root@localhost' (Using password: YES)' I have perused some resources looking for answers to this. Not finding any yet I decided to do some of my own checking. I ran strace on the mysqladmin program and it produced the following: read(3, "A\0\0\2", 4) = 4 read(3, "\377\25\4Access denied for user: \'root"..., 65) = 65 shutdown(3, 2 /* send and receive */) = 0 close(3) = 0 write(2, "\7", 1) = 1 write(2, "mysqladmin", 10mysqladmin) = 10 write(2, ": ", 2: ) = 2 write(2, "connect to server at \'localhost\'"..., 111connect to server at 'localhost' failed error: 'Access denied for user: 'root@localhost' (Using password: YES)') = 111 write(2, "\n", 1 ) The 3 above refers to a local UNIX socket that has been created when the server started up. As you can see a message is coming back from the server telling me access is denied with errno = 111 or: Error code 111: Connection refused It looks like something is wrong with the server, but I am at a loss as to how to turn debugging on or anything else. I cannot strace it because it forks off a child and the parent is left to wait. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I am pretty sure I have tried on the obvious things. Thanks.