Photo by Cubbie_n_Vegas
Like the morons in the highly entertaining Southwest Airlines commercials,
I wanna get away.
For the past few days, I’ve been trying to transfer my blog to a new server.
The error messages finally dwindled down to:
Error establishing a database connection
This either means that the username and password information in your wp-config.php file is incorrect or we can’t contact the database server at localhost. This could mean your host’s database server is down.
- Are you sure you have the correct username and password?
- Are you sure that you have typed the correct hostname?
- Are you sure that the database server is running?
If you’re unsure what these terms mean you should probably contact your host. If you still need help you can always visit the WordPress Support Forums
Searching through WordPress.org, I found a frustrating thread on the Installation Support forum:
Error establishing a database connection
After reading about some poor blogger’s travails, intermixed with hopeful replies,
I noticed a really terse but, essentially correct, comment from Support member DianeV:
Really, if you can’t connect to the database, it’s because you’ve put the wrong information in the wp-config.php file. It doesn’t matter *what* directory you install WordPress in; wrong information is wrong information.
Unless, of course, your tech support didn’t set up the database until after you talked to them. It could happen.
She’s right, folks. Gremlins, power surges, malevolent viruses need not apply.
It took me three days and countless scrutinizing of my wp-config.php file to realize that my user name didn’t match the one I created for the database.
Ain’t dat a blip?
Ding! You are now free to move about the blog.
Glad you’re back up and running. Just in time, if you choose to participate in a meme you’ve just been tagged for at my place.
Cool! I’ll be right over.
Let me just get this luggage checked in…
Oops. Well, I didn’t mean to be terse in that thread. It’s just that I had already tried twice to point out that this particular error message pretty much means there’s an error in the wp-config.php file (or with the web host), and I was trying to boil it down to basics. At least it helped some people in that thread.
But, for next time, maybe I should have said, “Really (really, really)”?
Welcome, Diane!
Don’t change. It was the stark brevity of the statement that made the message so clear.
Just as you tried twice to make the point, I needed to “hear” it a couple of times before it registered.
For me, the reason was so mundane: I used a variation of spelling in wp-config that was subtle enough for my eye to overlook it every time.
Thanks for commenting!
Cheers,
Mitch
Aha. I just realized that that was *you* in that thread (I think?). At any rate, I’m glad you got it figured out — and we all make these mistakes; that’s how we know.
Actually, it wasn’t
But it could have been, as the error was pretty much the same.
The great thing about non-fatal mistakes is that we can help others who trip over the same uneven cracks in the sidewalk!
Cheers,
Mitch