2 problems with phpmyadmin since upgrade

I am having a problem since I upgraded my sql php and phpmyadmin. I was running ver 3.23 sql and 4.+ of php and a really old version of phpmyadmin. I am now running the following: phpmyadmin ver. 2.7.0-pl2 Mysql Ver: MySQL 5.2.3-falcon-alpha PHP Version 5.2.1 Apache/2.0.51 (Fedora Core 2) Problems: 1. When I log on to my phpmyadmin screen i get an error message as follows: The mbstring PHP extension was not found and you seem to be using a multibyte charset. Without the mbstring extension phpMyAdmin is unable to split strings correctly and it may result in unexpected results 2. When I try and browse a database table it will not allow me to do it. The same with inserting a record. When I choose a database and then click operations I get this error: Error The additional features for working with linked tables have been deactivated. To find out why click here. When i click it is another error that says: PMA Database ... not OK[ Documentation ] General relation features Disabled Then it takes me to a doc page thats way over my head. What is strange is that the actual php and sql seem to be fine. All my programs are running and talking to the database, I just can't browse, add or edit records through phpmyadmin which is a real pain. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If someone can just fix it for me please let me know a cost. Thanks Joe joed@joed.com -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.1 GB/CM/CC/E/H/IT/MC/MU/P/SS d-@? s>+:>++ a+ C>++ UL$>++++ P+@>+ L$>+++ !E !W$>+++ !N !o !K-- w() !O !M !V PS@>+++ PE@>++ !Y !PGP t+++>$ 5>+++$ !X R@* tv? b++@>++ DI D@ G+@>+ e@> h--@>-- r+>$ y++++**>++++ ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------