WordPress installation with NearlyFreeSpeech.net

  • Hi folks! Hopefully this is the right forum to post this in.

    Fair warning: I’m fairly comfortable around computers, but when it comes to MySQL, PHP, or anything aside from raw HTML, I’m way out of my league. I’ve been seesawing back and forth with this problem for most of the day, and I’m totally lost.

    I was hoping you’d all be able to help. ??
    I have a web hosting provider, NearlyFreeSpeech.net. They run PHP 4.4.0, and MySQL 4.1.x.

    I tried following the installation instructions on the webpage, but stumbled quite a bit under the “create a username for the database” bit for the SQL database, as I couldn’t find the buttons and whatnot. I think I still managed to create a username for the database, but I’m sure I messed something up.

    Anywho, when accessing the install.php, I get the following (I’m sure very familiar) error message:
    ——
    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 DATABASENAME.db. This could mean your host’s database server is down.
    ——-

    Notice DATABASENAME.db (changed from its real name). The email I received upon creating a MySQL database stated the following:
    —-
    You MUST use your DSN when connecting to your database from PHP
    and CGI scripts. If you use ‘localhost’ or do not specify a DSN, you
    will get an error message.
    —–

    Okay, fine, when I look up DSN on their FAQ, I get:
    —–
    The DSN, or hostname, for connecting to MySQL is the name you gave when you created it, followed by the extension .db. The full connection information can be found in the email sent to you when you created your database.
    —–

    Right, so I’m now totally lost and confused. No matter what variables I change in any of the wp-admin.php files up top, I get the same error message.

    Pretend I’m a moron and help me out here. ??

    Thanks!
    Josh

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

  • OK, firstly you HAVE to get the correct DB name and password. It will not install ever if this is incorrect.
    You say you have an email your host sent you when creating the database? That info should be there.
    If you have no other option, go to your host’s admin panel for your site and find the database page. There should be an option to edit it. If so, when you get to that screen you should be able to see the DB name and password.
    When you get that, open your wp-config.php in a plain text editor (Notepad) and where you see:

    define('DB_NAME', 'database name'); // The name of the database
    define('DB_USER', 'db user'); // Your MySQL username
    define('DB_PASSWORD', 'db password'); // ...and password
    define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); // 99% chance you won't need to change this value

    change the appropriate values to what they really are. The values you want to change are the small letters between the backticks. From reading your host’s faq, instead of “localhost” you probably need the name of the database. Save and upload your file. Run the installer again.

    If you still have problems, email me:
    samboll at yahoo dot com.

    Did you ever resolve this, lordfly?

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • The topic ‘WordPress installation with NearlyFreeSpeech.net’ is closed to new replies.