well non of the above solutions worked for me.
mysql is running fine and i can connect to it with a command line and MySQL admin. and i still get this damn error message.
no idea what could be wrong. it doesnt even seem it tries to connect at all by the speed the message comes up and by netstat .
what kind of error message is this anyway?
" Could not connect to the database server."
"Please check the database server and its configuration."

the only message that could be worse would be.

"error. pls check!"

hey devs can we have this fixed?

well. heres my solution...
latest MySQL 4.1 does not work with XOOPS at all atm (w32 test environment) . MySQL 4.0.xx works fine.
will check latest MySQL and XOOPS with my solaris and an my debian systems asap.

Another possible answer (or set of answers) for those of you with the "blank page" problem (my summary below applies to Fedora Core 3).

1.
The blank page problem can occur when [your_path]/install/index.php fails on line 349 which attempts DB connection via the dbm object via the following syntax: $dbm->isConnectable()

2.
After wasting a lot of time trying to debug XOOPS install doe which probably was fine anyway, it occured to me to make a very basic script to test PHP connection to MySQL, which looked as follows (your path to PHP as listed on line 1 of the below may vary):

#!/usr/bin/php
<?php
$link = mysql_connect('localhost', 'apache', '4p4ch3');
if (!$link) {
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
echo 'Connected successfully';
mysql_close($link);
?>

3.
After creating above script, run chmod +X your_scriptname to make it executable

4.
Then run ./my_scriptname

5.
If your test script returns an error, locate your php.ini and make sure the line extension=msql.so is uncommented (it is commented by default).

6.
run rpm -q php-mysql from command line to verify php-mysql support is installed - if not see sysadmin or google for how to install RPMs/updates

7.
Make sure to restart apache following php.ini changes and package installation.

8.
Your test script should now work - if so, you'll probably be able to get through the XOOPS installation wizard without the dreaded "blank page"

So this has been a frustrating 4hrs. MySQL (4.0.24-nt) is configured and running on my machine. Works fine. I've created the XOOPS database, given root and a user acct full access to the database, the installation runs fine. No errors. I get to the last page and I get a blank page. No tables were created in the database, no error messages were generated on screen or in MySQL.

Any thoughts? Running XP, IIS, MySQL, PhP5

thanks,

Chris

edit:
I re-ran the Xoop install and I did notice this one thing pop up:

Notice: Use of undefined constant XOOPS_ROOT_PATH - assumed 'XOOPS_ROOT_PATH' in c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\warcraft\install\index.php on line 258

But since its a 'notice' and the process continued beyond this, I do not know if this factors in.

edit2:
OK, finally had to go back to old versions of PHP. v4.1.1 works fine for me, so basically the app needs to catch up.

I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM TOO

I'm a newbie. I want to install this cms in my page (i have a freehosting : freecoolsite.com). I fill database host with "freecoolsite.com" and i used it to install mambo and it's work. Does someone help me, please?
thanks..

I had the same problem... but solved it!!!
I run XOOPS on several sites, older and newer versions.
I used an old install folder (from v2.0.7)...
AND IT WORKED!!!
I simply uploaded all the files from the latest version EXCEPT the install folder, and then uploaded the older one.
I was amazed it worked.
But it did!!

I have read all this about creating your own database etc and am still baffled , I am going to email my host provider asking them to create a database for me...Is that right ? what should I get them to call it... clone_x1 seems to be what its telling me to create it as...any help as to what to say to them would be great...
Your friendly newb,
Youngguns

I'm a newbee when i try install XOOPS i came across this error massage Error [Xoops]: Unable to connect to database in file class/database/databasefactory.php line 34 ...
I'm stuck and and help frm u ppl anyway i using hosting company and using smartftp to upload it.

Hi!

So, big shock, as it seems to be a trend in this thread, I'm a newbie, lol ;) Anyway, when I get to this nifty page:

SQL Host
SQL Database Name
SQL Username
SQL Password

I can't enter my database info in the fields...I select what's already there, and try typing and...POOF! Nothing! Is there a reason for this, or does it just hate me? lol

This script is a great idea. It helped me solve this 'Cannot connect to database' problem.

The problem turned out to be that the location of the mysql.sock as returned by this script did not match the location as listed in either php.ini or my.cnf.

My situation was:

this script and info.php
-------------------------
MYSQL_SOCKET /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock

php.ini
-------
mysql.default_socket /var/run/mysql/mysql.sock

my.conf
-------
socket /var/run/mysql/mysql.sock


Changing the php.ini and my.cnf entries to match info.php and this script (and restarting MySQL and apache) immediateley fixed the problem !!

This is on:
Centos 4.0 (RHEL clone) with 2.6.9 kernel
Apache 1.3.33
PHP 4.3.10
Mysql 4.1.7
Xoop 2.2

Note that I had previously edited my.cnf and added the line
old_passwords
to the mysqld section prior to creating the MySQL user for Xoops.

Thanks everyone. This entire thread was invaluable !

al