Please help! XAMPP Failed now I can't access local Joomla!

[brody10]

Here is my situation (I'm not a techie or coder, so bear with me):

I was working on my joomla website, locally (it's not uploaded yet) and my Mac crashed for whatever reason, so xampp control panel was still running processes.
When I restarted, the control panel app was missing completely from my computer, or was hidden and not functioning.
I read the xampp docs and they said to SAVE htdocs and your files within, then just drop a new installation right into applications, after you delete the old xampp folder.
Done.
Now xammp and control panel run again, so I put my htdocs files into the appropriate folder in the new xampp and now I get this when I try to access my website or admin:
Database connection error (3): Could not connect to database
Now, I've kept the old files and notice that the database folder and it's files(city@002dguide) located in my OLD folder are not in the NEW one:
xamppfiles/var/mysql/city@002dguide/
I tried manually dropping the folder into the NEW XAMPP but then I got this:
Table 'city-guide.fq14m_session' doesn't exist SQL=INSERT INTO `fq14m_session` (`session_id`, `client_id`, `time`) VALUES ('a054875a88843f725e5327eaddb2b83f', 0, '1360087349')
I'm pulling my hair out trying to fix it. Can anyone help?

[antoniomax]

If you have hard copied the files inside var/mysql all you have to do is:

Reinstall XAMPP >
Copy the old mysql files (your folders and files, please dont overwrite app default files and dbs) >
Start XAMPP & MYSQL >
Access your PHPMYADMIN and check if your DB is there, and acessible through PHPMYADMIN >
Run your app again and that error should be gone.

Please note that with your DB mysql hardcopy (the files inside var/mysql) you should also always export your DBs with PHPMYADMIN (dont select any DB and go EXPORT, SELECT ALL, SAVE), then you can always have two backups, whats always better than just one option.

Good luck