loosing mysql connection with PHP 4.3.1

Hello, We recently upgraded a development server running RH Linux 7.2 from Apache 1.3.26/PHP 4.2.3 to Apache 1.3.27/PHP 4.3.1. A day after the upgrade, we started experiencing lost of connections to MySQL DB. The DB server is in a remote server. The error that I am getting is: PHP Warning: mysql_pconnect() [<a href='http://www.php.net/function.mysql-pconnect'>function.mysql-pconnect</a>]: Link to server lost, unable to reconnect in /home/pgodel/public_html/ecare/ebill2/inc/db.inc.php on line 30 Line 30 has: $r = mysql_pconnect(DB_SERVER,DB_USER, DB_PASS); If I hit refresh, the connection is estabilished flawlessly... But later, the problem can happen again, randomly. I researched the mailing list with no apparent discussed problems, I researched on google, and there are several mentions of the same problem, all since 4.3.0 Is this a real problem? I am affraid of upgrading my production servers because of this. Any ideas on how to debug this deeper ? Any help and ideas will be greatly appreciate it. Thank you Pablo Godel