phpmyadmin stops authenticating, mysql does fine

[isn]

CentOS 5.4
ISP Config 3.0.1.3 (Afraid to upgrade at this point)
phpmyadmin was working as recently as Saturday night.

It authenticates users and they can do phpmyadmin things.

Server was configured as per "The Perfect Server" document.

Then:

I update a number of rpms unrelated to ISPconfig. Specifically I avoid touching postfix because its working quite well and I do not go looking for trouble.

I thought about leaving phpmyadmin alone. But did eventually update it after backing up the configuration files.

First time I try and visit http://mysite.com/phpmyadmin/

Welcome to phpMyAdmin 2.11.10

Wrong username/password. Access denied.

mysql command line works perfectly for all users.


So I removed phpmyadmin as follows:
yum -y remove phpmyadmin
yum -y install phpmyadmin

Went through the phpmyadmin.conf file and opened it up to external connections.

Changed the authentication type to http from cookie.

Restarted the mysql and httpd services.

No joy.

Cleared all the php files in /var/lib/php/sessions

restarted all services.

Restarted the box.

I don't see any log files to look at. the server access and error logs provide no clues.

/var/log/mysqld.log is normal.

Though its a PITA, I suppose I could track down and find the previous version of phpmyadmin.

SEP

What to do now?

Update:
Downgrade of phpmmyadmin did not help.


Welcome to phpMyAdmin 2.11.5

Wrong username/password. Access denied.

<sigh>

Just for grins I did this:
changed the authentication back to cookie
put in a fake blowfish password.

Fixed.

But still, this is a dork type solution.

What gives?

[falko]

Do the MySQL logins still work on the command line?

mysql -u <username> -p

[isn]

mysql -u -ppassword access has worked through out this process.