mysql_connect woes

I have a very simple script set up to verify weither or not I can connect to mySQL from a PHP script.

<?php
$link = mysql_connect('localhost', 'root', 'XXXXXXXX');
if (!$link) {
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
echo 'Connected successfully';
mysql_close($link);
?>

I recieve the following error:

Could not connect: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/mysql/tmp/mysql.sock' (13)


I tried replacing 'localhost' with 127.0.0.1 .

Now I have a completely different error message:

Could not connect: Lost connection to MySQL server during query


First of all I'd like to know why I can't just use 'localhost' and second, I'd like to get this damn thing to work! I'm really frustrated. I hope someone can help. I've searched all over the internet for a solution to my problem but am having no luck. mySQL is running fine, and the mysql.sock file is there where it should be. I can also log in from the command line. I am exasperated!


I am running Slackware 10, mySQL 5.0.21-log, and PHP 4.4.2.


Any ideas helping me out would be much appreciated. I need this to work!