MySQL database DEACTIVATED [post security]

[Citizen Zed]

So good install (Linux Mint 8 KDE) and all activated in status pate of XAMPP. But when changing root user password for MySQL admin the status page says MySQL database DEACTIVATED .... it does seem to be running though.

Googling I find a few remarks... one looks promising: http://robsnotebook.com/xampp-additional-passwords
But it mentions making changes in /opt/xampp/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php ... but this file is totally blank?

A bit confused, so any help appreciated