mysql went away

HI. I've been using mySQL 4.0.13, php4.3.4, and phpMyAdmin2.5.5 on Mac OS 10.3.3 as a learning/testing/development environment for a couple of months now - no problems, works great. I've created more than a few mySQL databases and tables, but yesterday I created a database, a table, and LOAD DATA from within phpMyAdmin. Successfully. I looked at the data and all was fine. Logged out and went away for a while. Came back and phpMyAdmin would not show me my databases in the left frame, and I could not launch a query window. I could see runtime information, system vars, processes, and even privileges. I tried logging in to mySQL through the terminal Through the command line client I can run simple commands, but no commands to view or affect databases or tables. I can run php scripts from a browser - connect to databases, retrieve and even insert/update data, but I cannot view databases or tables, and though I haven't tried I doubt I'll be able to create, delete, or backup databases or tables. Does anyone have a clue about what the problems may be or where I should start? --- Bill Green bill@billgreen.org