phpmyadmin with mysqli error

[whtemple1959]

Hello,

I have....
Windows XP SP3
XAMPP 1.7.7
Basic install to C:\xampp

When I attempt to open phpmyadmin I get the following error....
phpMyAdmin - Error
The mysqli extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration. <a href="Documentation.html#faqmysql" target="documentation"><img class="icon" src="./themes/pmahomme/img/b_help.png" width="11" height="11" alt="Documentation" title="Documentation" /></a>

A check of php.ini shows that the mysqli extension line is not commented out.
A search for mysqli.dll finds it located in C:\xampp\php\ext

Any suggestions?