Access Denied in MySQL

[caca990099]

When i try to do anything with MySQL I get the following error. This happened after i updated Cpanel. I don't know how to fix it, because both WHM and mysqladmin failed me. In WHM it says that the password was changed and it works, but it is not working. Also, my varl/lib/mysql/mysql/ directory got erased.... The files in it i think were what held password/user information. In that case, I copied over the files from another server with an almost identical set-up and I also reinstalled mySql, but absoluteley nothing I do seems to allow root to log into the database. If i re-delelte all the files from the above listed folder, MySQL stops working.

Please help.

Here is the exact error:
connect to server at 'localhost' failed
error: 'Access denied for user: 'root@localhost' (Using password: YES)'

And this is the error in WHM when i try to go and change the password for the individual user under the mysql options:
ERROR 1045: Access Denied

[Juanra]

There are two functions in WHM to change the MySQL root password. The 'civilized' one is under server setup, and the 'brute' one is under MySQL ("Reset Root Password"). Did you try both of them?

Also, check the contents of /root/.my.cnf

[caca990099]

yes i have. Unfortunately even after i removed the password from .my.cnf it is still giving an error. The passwords and users must be stored somewhere. But i don't know where. I also don't know why PhpMyAdmin will not work either.

very strange and troubling

Thanks for your suggestion though.