Thank you for your answers. Perhaps I have not explained myself well enough. Firstly, I split the logic/data access code into a PHP class and the each HTML page is represented by a PHP file. The PHP file will call functions such as addStaff() which will write all the Staff details to the database. In other words, the mysql_connect () and other database code is in the Staff.class.php No, I do not use the '@' sign I use mysql_connect(...) or die("Cannot connect to database") Therefore, if there are any problems, by right the line should be displayed, but it isn't. Our client is using the latest versions of Apache, PHP and MySQL. MySQL 4.0.12 is stable and so far I have not encountered any problems. By the way, the problem is those mysql_ functions just 'hang', no response. Not invalid response. This lead me to suspect it is some timeout problem. MySQL 4.0.12 is production version (latest production version is 4.0.13, Alpha 4.1.0). AFAIK, Apache 2 is around for ages, and it is easier to maintain compared to Apache 1.3.x (IMHO). BTW, I have not experienced any problem running PHP with Apache 2. What I want to know is: 1. How come the mysql_ calls do not timeout? 2. I do not get some error displayed on the HTML page? 3. How do I set PHP and MySQL call timeouts? Thank you very much. Yours truly, Hanxue -- PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php