ftp password rejected

[SirLancelot]

Now I think we are getting somwhere.
mysql will not let me log in:-

test:~# mysql

produces:-

ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)

I've also tried:-

mysql -u root
mysql -u admin
mysql -u steve

mysql -u root -p mypassword
mysql -u admin -p mypassword
mysql -u steve -p mypassword

they all produce:-

ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user

though i can log in with phpmyadmin and if I select table "ftp_user" steve_ftp is there.
It is strange that I am unable to connect from the command line as this is the 5'th time that I have built an ISPConfig 3 server and the problem is always the same.