1. Obviously the 'ole check the log file for anything nasty
cat /var/log/mysqld.log
2. Stop the service
service mysqld stop
3. Check to see if the service stopped, it might be calling the wrong pid.
ps aux | grep mysql
4. Kill any mysql process that might still be running.
kill -9 ??? ???
5. (*CAREFUL*) Remove/move/backup any databases from the data directory, only do this step if you need to.
rm -Rf /var/lib/mysql/*
6. Check your global options configuration file, should be similar to stevanbt's initial post.
cat /etc/my.cnf
7. Copy over one of the preconfigured 'sample' server-specific options file. Global (/etc/my.cnf) file has priority over server-specific file, but these have more options in them and have been tuned for a certain role.
cp /usr/share/doc/mysql-server-?.??.??/my-small.cnf /var/lib/mysql
8. Recreate the initial databases, this step is optional as the initscripts will do this anyway.
mysql_install_db
9. Check and set the runlevels for the service.
chkconfig --level 345 mysqld on
chkconfig --list mysqld
10. Start the service.
service mysqld start
11. Check the log file (step 1)
Thats just a basic step through check, most of you have probably already done this.
