MySQL Forums :: PHP :: mysql_num_rows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result

the skeleton for the website was made by a guy from RenMedia. RenMedia closed down a long time ago and there is no support available.

runQuery is used in the functions.ssi.php file

 function item_to_id($value, $table, $column = 'name', $url_col = '') {
	$value = addslashes($value);
	$sql = "SELECT id FROM $table WHERE $column = '$value' LIMIT 1";
	$result = runQuery($sql);
	if (mysql_num_rows($result)) {
		$row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result);
		return $row['id'];
	} else {
		if ($url_col) {
			$url = nukeUrlSafe($value);
			$sql = "INSERT INTO $table SET $column = '$value', $url_col = '$url'";
			runQuery($sql);
			return mysql_insert_id();
		} else {
			$sql = "INSERT INTO $table SET $column = '$value'";
			runQuery($sql);
			return mysql_insert_id();
		}
	}
}

function pagify_results($sql, $letter, $songs) {
	$result = runQuery($sql);
	if (mysql_num_rows($result)) {
		$per_page = 50;
		if ($_GET['page'] > 0) {
			$page = $_GET['page'] + 0;
		} else {
			$page = 1;
		}
		$total_results = mysql_num_rows($result);
		$total_pages = ceil($total_results / $per_page);
		$first_item = $per_page * ($page - 1);
		$sql .= " LIMIT $first_item, $per_page";
		$result = runQuery($sql);
		$max_this_page = $first_item + $per_page;
		if ($max_this_page > $total_results)
			$max_this_page = $total_results;
	
		echo "<h2>Displaying ".($first_item+1)." to $max_this_page of $total_results Results</h2>\n";
		
		$pre_pagify = "";
		for ($i = 1; $i <= $total_pages; $i++) {
			if ($page == $i)
				$pre_pagify .= "<a href='?page=$i'><strong>$i</strong></a> ";
			else
				$pre_pagify .= "<a href='?page=$i'>$i</a> ";
		}
		$pre_pagify .= "";
		
		$pagify = "<div class='pagify'>";
		if ($page > 1) {
			$pagify .= "<a href='?page=1'>First</a> | <a href='?page=". ($page - 1) . "'>Prev</a> | ";
		} else {
			$pagify .= "First | Prev | ";
		}
		#$pagify .= " <b style='color: #444;'>Page " . $page . " / " . $total_pages . "</b> | ";
		if (!$songs)
			$pagify .= $pre_pagify;
		else
			$pagify .= $page . " / " . $total_pages;
		if ($page < $total_pages) {
			$pagify .= " | <a href='?&page=". ($page +1) . "'>Next</a> | <a href='?page=". ($total_pages) . "'>Last</a>";
		} else {
			$pagify .= " | Next | Last";
		}
		$pagify .= "</div>\n";
		
		
		echo $pagify;
?>

and in the index.php file:

 		<ul>
			<?php
			$sql = "SELECT s.name AS song_name, s.url AS song_url, s.submit_name, s.submit_time, a.name AS artist_name, a.url AS artist_url FROM song AS s, artist AS a WHERE s.artist_id = a.id ORDER BY s.id DESC LIMIT 20";
			$result = runQuery($sql);
			while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
			?>
			<li><a href="lyrics-<?=$row['artist_url']?>-<?=$row['song_url']?>.htm"><?=trimmer($row['artist_name'] . " - " . $row['song_name'],30)?></a></li>
			<li>By <em><?=$row['submit_name']?></em> approx <?=tPass(strtotime($row['submit_time']))?> ago</li>
			<?php
			}
			?>
		</ul>

runQuery is not used anywhere else. I checked all the files and the database