Unable to connect to the database:Could not connect to MySQL

[MikeSA1965]

I have installed XAMPP 1.7.7 on windows Vista 32. It opens and runs with green lights. Localhost opens and I can run and view files. However when I try and install Joomla I get the following error. Unable to connect to the database:Could not connect to MySQL. Can anyone shed some light on where this error may be and how it may be fixed? The XAMPP panel says that MySQL is running. The mysql_error.log contains the following items;
<i>

120209 14:12:59 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled.
120209 14:12:59 InnoDB: The InnoDB memory heap is disabled
120209 14:12:59 InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use Windows interlocked functions
120209 14:12:59 InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.3
120209 14:12:59 InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 16.0M
120209 14:12:59 InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
InnoDB: The first specified data file L:\WEBS\xampp\mysql\data\ibdata1 did not exist:
InnoDB: a new database to be created!
120209 14:12:59 InnoDB: Setting file L:\WEBS\xampp\mysql\data\ibdata1 size to 10 MB
InnoDB: Database physically writes the file full: wait...
120209 14:12:59 InnoDB: Log file L:\WEBS\xampp\mysql\data\ib_logfile0 did not exist: new to be created
InnoDB: Setting log file L:\WEBS\xampp\mysql\data\ib_logfile0 size to 5 MB
InnoDB: Database physically writes the file full: wait...
120209 14:12:59 InnoDB: Log file L:\WEBS\xampp\mysql\data\ib_logfile1 did not exist: new to be created
InnoDB: Setting log file L:\WEBS\xampp\mysql\data\ib_logfile1 size to 5 MB
InnoDB: Database physically writes the file full: wait...
InnoDB: Doublewrite buffer not found: creating new
InnoDB: Doublewrite buffer created
InnoDB: 127 rollback segment(s) active.
InnoDB: Creating foreign key constraint system tables
InnoDB: Foreign key constraint system tables created
120209 14:13:00 InnoDB: Waiting for the background threads to start
120209 14:13:01 InnoDB: 1.1.8 started; log sequence number 0
120209 14:13:02 [Note] Event Scheduler: Loaded 0 events
120209 14:13:02 [Note] L:\WEBS\xampp\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe: ready for connections.
Version: '5.5.16' socket: '' port: 3306 MySQL Community Server (GPL)
120209 14:21:56 [Note] L:\WEBS\xampp\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe: Normal shutdown

120209 14:21:56 [Note] Event Scheduler: Purging the queue. 0 events
120209 14:21:56 InnoDB: Starting shutdown...
120209 14:21:57 InnoDB: Shutdown completed; log sequence number 1595675
120209 14:21:57 [Note] L:\WEBS\xampp\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe: Shutdown complete

120209 15:36:57 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled.
120209 15:36:57 InnoDB: The InnoDB memory heap is disabled
120209 15:36:57 InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use Windows interlocked functions
120209 15:36:57 InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.3
120209 15:36:57 InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 16.0M
120209 15:36:57 InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
120209 15:36:57 InnoDB: highest supported file format is Barracuda.
120209 15:36:58 InnoDB: Waiting for the background threads to start
120209 15:36:59 InnoDB: 1.1.8 started; log sequence number 1595675
120209 15:37:00 [Note] Event Scheduler: Loaded 0 events
120209 15:37:00 [Note] L:\WEBS\xampp\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe: ready for connections.
Version: '5.5.16' socket: '' port: 3306 MySQL Community Server (GPL)
</i>

Any help much appreciated.

Mike

[JonB]

I'm not a Joomla expert, so I can only generalize.

If the case is that phpMyAdmin works, then MySQL is working properly on your machine.

There is a possibility that the Joomla version you are trying to install may have an issue with IPv6 (a guess)

try binding your MySQL server to 127.0.0.1 in your my.ini (or my.cnf) file

Try the testing ideas here if that does not fly.
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/ ... erver.html

As I said, if phpMyAdmin works correctly, the XAMPP configuration is probably not the problem, I'd post the question on A Joomla forum or mailing list.

Good Luck