Prepared Statement not working (mysql 5)

Hello list, The following example script uses prepared statements to bind input and output parameters It works flowlessy using php 5 & mysqli on a client machine and MySQL 5.0.7 beta on the server (192.168.0.2): 1: <?php 2: $m = new mysqli('192.168.0.2', 'xxx', 'xxx'); 3: $m->select_db('xxx'); 4: 5: $sql = "SELECT des FROM comune WHERE descrizione LIKE ?"; 6: $param='tre%'; 7: 8: $stmt = $m->stmt_init(); 9: 10: if ($stmt->prepare($sql)) { 11: 12: $stmt->bind_param('s', $param); 13: $stmt->execute(); 14: $stmt->bind_result($col1); 15: 16: echo "<p>"; 17: while ($stmt->fetch()) { 18: echo "$col1<br/>"; 19: } 20: echo "</p>"; 21: 22: $stmt->close(); 23: } 24: 25: $m->close(); 26: 27: ?> Now, upon moving the script on to the server and replacing line 2 with 2: $m = new mysqli('localhost', 'xxx', 'xxx'); it stops working (ie no output at all on screen). Removing the bound output parameter (line 14) results in a mock "too many parameters to bind_param" error on line 12. Replacing the PS with a simple query makes the script work again. The PS at the mysql command interface level is working as expected. It looks like there is a problem with mysqli PS when the client and the server share the same machine. Does anyone have a clue on what is going on or point me to some tests I can do? Thank you all, marco