Problem with mysql and connetion to it using php

Hi all,

I am new to this newsgroup and have a question about using php with 
mysql. I have installed mysql 4.1.7 and php 5.0.2 with apache2 2.0.52. 
All the services come up ok work. I can execute php files with apache2 
and I can bring up mysql and query the database.

My problem is I cannot connect to the mysql database using php 5.0.2 
when I test with a php file.

<?php
$username = "root";
$password = "bobby";
$hostname = "localhost";	
$dbh = mysql_connect($hostname, $username, $password)
	or die("Unable to connect to MySQL");
print "Connected to MySQL<br>";
// you're going to do lots more here soon
mysql_close($dbh);
?>

I get the erorr unable to connec to mysql from the php script. I don't 
know why I cannot connect because root does exist and I have the 
password bobby on it.

I have heard that mysql and php do not work well with 41 char password 
and should be set to the old password lenght of 16. I have tried that I 
don't seem to connect. Does anyone have any ideas to correct this problem?

What is the best way to look at errors?

Thanks,

Bob Courtney