Hi Johnno, > I have install mysql 3.23.56 and I start it with > ./bin/mysqld --user=mysql --datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data --log=mysqld.log Have you tried appending an ampersand (&) to that command: ./bin/mysqld --user=mysql --datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data --log=mysqld.log & ? HTH... Nico