mysql_connect on dual-processor machines

I would appreciate help in getting mysql_connect to behave consistently on different machines. It does not work for me on a dual-processor server but will on other servers. On dual-processor machines, no matter what parameters are entered into the function, they are ignored. For example, with $link = mysql_connect ("localhost", "ams", "amspassword") or die ("Could not connect as ams: " . mysql_error() ); if ($link && mysql_select_db ("refs")) return ($link); the function defaults to localhost and no user or password, so the browser returns only Access denied for user: '@localhost' to database 'refs' By chown'ing the calling script to different users other than mysql, the message will sometimes name a user--for example, Access denied for user: 'bob@localhost' to database 'refs' (Using password: NO) I've tried setting the mysql_default.socket in php.ini to the mysql socket, and that makes no difference. How do I get mysql_connect to read its parameters? Why should this only be a problem on dual_processor machines? Seth