Error Establishing a Database Connection

You aren’t getting confused about editing the wrong wp-config.php file are you?

In cPanel you will see the DB_NAME and DB_USER. Are you sure the DB_PASSWORD is correct–if not delete the user and recreate with the password you know. Also make sure you assign all privileges to the user (users).

Resource:
Installing Multiple Blogs

I am having the same difficulty. I can’t even get to a screen that asks for my username and password, instead getting the exact same error message (posted my MaryLutz above) when I follow the link provided in my cpanel simplescripts installs list. (I have another wordpress blog set up on a different subdomain and a phpBB forum on yet another subdomain that both run perfectly. This wp install was to be on a third subdomain…)

The only difference between this and my other wp blog is the version–the other is WordPress v.2.6.2. I tried installing both most current version (which is tagged beta) and the one just below, (which is tagged stable). Both times, I get the same error message when I try to log in using the two links provided in my cpanel. (Actually, the link to the site offers just a simple statement in bold text (Error Establishing a Database Connection). the link to my admin login is what sends the more extensive error message quoted in marylutz’s post..)

Hmm–maybe I’ll try installing the older version that is working…

I was able to fix it by deleting my username in cPanel and adding it again. So I have my original blog back. Now I’m trying to figure out how to add a 2nd domain…

Installing Multiple Blogs is what you want…

Not sure why it worked, but installing the older version worked fine for me. Now for the fun part: customizing!

The only thing that I did differently was that I installed it using a different computer–the installation went MUCH faster, so I wonder if I was experiencing a timing-out issue and this is why my previous attempts failed. Retrospectively, when I installed the first blog (and forum), I used the faster computer too…

Is there a stability issue with beta versions?

Beta versions should not be used for live blog.

With that said, 2.7 beta is pretty stable though some are complaining of speed issues, but I’ve not seen that.

If you are using the beta version, make sure you keep it updated.

dumb question,
but how do I access the php file to make sure my login and password are correct. I can access my database from phpadmin, but wordpress cannot access it?

Down load and install FileZilla, connect to your host, navigate to the folder where wp-config.php exists, right click on the file and click View/Edit. Make the changes it the editor, close the editor, say yes to save the changes, then say yes to the file has changed prompt and the changes are saved to your host copy of that file.

AH HAH!
Didn’t know the file could be edited through an FTP program. I just used my CuteFTP to do it..same way, by right clicking and editing to the password on file through phpadmin

Thanks, I have access

Thanks for prompt replies… I now have WP customized, up & running. After the successful installation, like machineartgirl, I too ran into issues trying to log in after the installation — I was following the discussions on other threads pertaining to this issue — I found my problem was indeed that I was not remembering that I had two separate log-in sets.

Your advice to reset passwords prompted me to go back to my very original e-mail and there it was–the confirmation of my wp site-specific admin name & password… (which was different from the installation log-in/password set…) and log-in was a breeze afterwards…

For those of us who aren’t so computer literate–this detail wasn’t so clear to me. I had assumed that the password generated with my new WP account was the master password. After spending an afternoon struggling with figuring it out, it now seems clear–but boy has it been frustrating! Once I got over the installation hump, (did my little happy dance…), my wp set-up experience again ground to a screeching halt with the log-in issue!

I’m not sure how WordPress could make this process more clear to folks like me, but from looking around the forums, it sure seems that a lot of us setting up are experiencing the same stumbling points.

Anyway, all is well now. I’m very impressed with how fast these forums move in responses!

I read all of the stuff above, confirmed that my wp-config.php was correct (it was), and then discovered that the “delete user in cpanel and re-create” was the fix needed. Strange.

Lane