problems with if/then statement

I am trying to set up a login page, where the user logs in with their name/password, and the values are then sent to a page that verifies the name/password, and then gives the appropriate content. I also want to set a cookie if the login is successful. The following code is located at the very top of the page (so the cookie can be set): <? mysql_connect("localhost", "chauness", "******") or die ("Unable to connect to server."); mysql_select_db("chaunessy_com") or die ("Unable to select database."); $sql = "SELECT member_id FROM gcyo WHERE member_id='$username' and member_pass='$password'"; $result = mysql_query($sql) or die ("Unable to get results."); $num = mysql_numrows($result) or die ("You're not authorized to be here. If you feel you have received this message in error, please contact the webmaster"); if ($num == 1) { setcookie("gcyousername",$username,time()+3600); $login_success=1; } else { $login_success=0; } ?> The problem I am having is, when the login is incorrect, it dies at the statement "$num = mysql_numrows($result)". What is supposed to happen is if the login is incorrect, it is supposed to pass a value of 0 for the variable $login_success to be used for content display further down the page. Why is it throwing an error there?? is there a problem in my syntax?? Thanks in advance for your help! Colin Gray chaunessy creative web solutions www.chaunessy.com cgray@chaunessy.com Pager: 864.410.8243