PHP 5.4 and WordPress: "Error establishing a database connection"

I've tried to upgrade an existing PHP 5.2.x site running WordPress to PHP 5.4 by editing my .htaccess file. Unfortunately this immediately results in the dreaded

Error establishing a database connection

WordPress error.

Has anyone else experienced this? I have multiple WordPress installs and it happens on all of them. Why would upgrading the PHP version have any effect on the DB connection?

php5.4 wordpress

asked Mar 15 '12 at 20:51

ehough
15●1●3

4 Answers:

oldest newest most voted

Some other PHP applications we have seen are unable to access the database after an upgrade to PHP 5.4, and have a specific error similar to the following:

cannot connect to MySQL 4.1+ using the old insecure authentication.
Please use an administration tool to reset your password with the command
SET PASSWORD = PASSWORD('your_existing_password'). This will store a new,
and more secure, hash value in mysql.user.

In order to rule out this possibility, try setting your password for your database again in the WebFaction Control Panel. This should perform the "SET PASSWORD" command as described above.

answered Mar 16 '12 at 01:26

ryans ♦♦
2841●1●4●20

OK, I just added

< FilesMatch .php$>
    SetHandler php54-cgi
< /FilesMatch>

to my .htaccess file to prep for the support ticket and lo and behold - it works. The only difference was, this time I just used vim to edit the file. Wherease before I was using this plugin to manage changes to .htaccess.

Who knows. I'm just happy that it's working! Thanks your input and hope I didn't waste too much of your time.

answered Mar 15 '12 at 23:25

ehough
15●1●3

Glad to hear you found the source of the problem.

(Mar 15 '12 at 23:32) johns ♦♦

I spoke too soon! Was looking at a cached version of that page. The good news is that simply resetting the DB password from my control panel works fine. Onwards..

(Mar 16 '12 at 10:26) ehough

Please submit a support ticket so we could look at the server and the account directly, you should not have a database error for simply upgrading.

answered Mar 15 '12 at 22:18

johns ♦♦
3404●2●7

You might also want to try resetting your database password with what is set in the wp-config.php file just to be 100% sure it is correct.

(Mar 15 '12 at 22:50) johns ♦♦

PHP 5.4 changed to mysqlnd (native driver) instead of libmysql, therefore OLD mysql (pre mysql 4.1) passwords are not supported with mysqlnd, simply change your db password as solution, make sure your mysql installation does not enforce old-style passwords (phpmyadmin passwd change function will let you choose which password style to use old or new)

answered Aug 21 '12 at 21:24

Lulu
1●1

edited Aug 21 '12 at 21:26

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Asked: Mar 15 '12 at 20:51

Seen: 2,558 times

Last updated: Aug 21 '12 at 21:26

PHP 5.4 and WordPress: "Error establishing a database connection"

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