Can't connect ERROR 2002

[Mark Rigney]

Hi,
I'm getting error 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2) when I try to connect to the database.

This started after the following:
2 table repair processes were running and taking an exceptionally long time.
I killed both processes.
I tried to shut down mysql and received the msg waiting for mysql to exit... gave up waiting!
After this I power cycled the server.
Then started mysql (didn't get any error msgs) - but when I try to connect I get the 2002 error. If I try to shut it down I get the gave up waiting msg again.

Any one know what I need to do to fix this?

Thanks in advance.
Mark