installed MySql - can't connect to local MySql: server error

[david wright]

I can't seem to run MySql:
ERROR 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket
as you can see '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' does exist

I know i'm just missing something but i've been over this a few times, any 
ideas?
[root@RR lib]# pwd
/var/lib
[root@RR lib]# l
total 44
drwxrwxrwt    2 root     root         4096 Sep 23  2001 cddb
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         4096 Dec 29 14:11 games
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          220 Jan  1  1904 logrotate.status
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         4096 May 15  2000 misc
drwxr-xr-x    4 mysql    mysql        4096 Jun 20 02:35 mysql
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root         4096 Dec 29 14:10 nfs
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         4096 Feb 14  1996 rpm
drwxr-x---    2 root     slocate      4096 Jun 19 16:26 slocate
drwxrwxrwt    2 root     root         4096 Dec 29 14:10 texmf
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root         4096 Dec 29 14:14 xdm
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         4096 Dec 31 15:27 xkb
[root@RR lib]# mysql
ERROR 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket 
'/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (111)
[root@RR lib]# l /var/lib/mysql/
total 8
drwx------    2 root     root         4096 Jun 20 02:26 mysql
srwxrwxrwx    1 mysql    mysql           0 Jun 20 02:35 mysql.sock
drwx------    2 root     root         4096 Jun 20 02:26 test


checking the error logs produces:
[root@RR bin]# cat /var/log/mysqld.log
020620 02:32:00  mysqld started
020620  2:32:01  /usr/libexec/mysqld: Can't find file: './mysql/host.frm' 
(errno: 13)
020620 02:32:01  mysqld ended

020620 02:35:22  mysqld started
020620  2:35:22  /usr/libexec/mysqld: Can't find file: './mysql/host.frm' 
(errno: 13)
020620 02:35:22  mysqld ended


But as you can see './mysql/host.frm' exists in /var/lib/mysql/mysql:
[root@RR bin]# l /var/lib/mysql/mysql
total 104
-rw-rw----    1 root     root            0 Jun 20 02:26 columns_priv.MYD
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         1024 Jun 20 02:26 columns_priv.MYI
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         8778 Jun 20 02:26 columns_priv.frm
-rw-rw----    1 root     root          302 Jun 20 02:26 db.MYD
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         3072 Jun 20 02:26 db.MYI
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         8982 Jun 20 02:26 db.frm
-rw-rw----    1 root     root            0 Jun 20 02:26 func.MYD
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         1024 Jun 20 02:26 func.MYI
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         8641 Jun 20 02:26 func.frm
-rw-rw----    1 root     root            0 Jun 20 02:26 host.MYD
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         1024 Jun 20 02:26 host.MYI
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         8958 Jun 20 02:26 host.frm
-rw-rw----    1 root     root            0 Jun 20 02:26 tables_priv.MYD
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         1024 Jun 20 02:26 tables_priv.MYI
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         8877 Jun 20 02:26 tables_priv.frm
-rw-rw----    1 root     root          428 Jun 20 02:26 user.MYD
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         2048 Jun 20 02:26 user.MYI
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         9148 Jun 20 02:26 user.frm

thanks