Monitoring one PHP script with another via mysql table

I'm working on a php data loads project that will require some extended run times and I wish to monitor progress. I created a table in a mysql database such that at certain intervals the process will update the table. I've written a second php script which upon a button click is suppose to read the status row from the database and simply display the contents. In my testing the monitor script works fine except when the project script is running. The project script opens the database and closes the database connection with each update. The updates are suppose to run every minute. When the project script is running and I click the button on the monitor script it goes into a wait state that doesn't "finish" until the project script updates the database with finish and shuts down. I can see the data being updated in the database via MySQL Query Browser but the monitor PHP script waits. I believe there's some configuration that I don't have set correctly or I need to connect differently to the database. Any ideas???? Thanks in advance! ________________________________________________________________________ Check Out the new free AIM(R) Mail -- 2 GB of storage and industry-leading spam and email virus protection.