long mysql_connect times

I have a PHP5.x site under development with MySQL 4.1.x. I had the site running fine and there were no speed issues at all. Everything is on the same system (a dual G5 Xserve). Today however the PHP pages with MySQL calls started to take forever to load. Static html and php files still loaded instantly. I tracked the issue down to mysql_connect. Initial calls to this function are taking 5 to 10 seconds each. Subsequent calls missing a mysql_close call do not have the latency issue. Normally I try have each call to mysql_connect followed by a mysql_close to keep my mysql tales in order. I have tried: - loading the pages remotely and locally (both slow) - checked the Apache / MySQL logs - manually ran the mysql queries to check for slow queries (all 0.0x seconds duration) - restarted apache / mysql My next step is a hard restart (off hours later tonight) but until then I was wondering if anyone has any ideas? I am stumped. Thanks, Dan T