[G00SE9]

We keep getting this error from vb 3.6.7pl1. Our host is half way around the world (not the best setup, but it was cheap...maybe we know why now....), which I'm sure isn't helping things, but this is really driving me crazy. We receive this at least 15-20 times/day.
We have less than 100 members and normally, no more than 25 logged in. Vbulletin has not
been modded extensively, except for a shoutbox, anonymizer, and vbimagehost.
The database is approximately 17MB at this time.
===============================================
Database error in vBulletin :

The first is a mysql_connect, the second is a mysql_pconnect; we receive both.

mysql_connect() [<a href='function.mysql-connect'>function.mysql-connect</a>]: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)
/home/customersn/http_docs/forum/includes/class_core.php on line 274

OR:

mysql_pconnect() [<a href='function.mysql-pconnect'>function.mysql-pconnect</a>]: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)
/home/customersn/http_docs/forum/includes/class_core.php on line 274

(3 different sources of the errors are shown here)

MySQL Error :
Error Number :
Date : Thursday, August 16th 2007 @ 12:37:16 AM

Script : http://www.customersnw.com/forum/vbshout.php
Referrer : http://www.customersnw.com/forum/index.php

Script : http://www.customersnw.com/forum/login.php?do=login
Referrer : http://www.customersnw.com/forum/showthread.php?t=821

Script : http://customersnw.com/forum/search.php?searchid=8541
Referrer : http://customersnw.com/forum/index.php

IP Address : 2XX.X5.1X9.X8
Username :
Classname : vB_Database
================================================== ==
This is my first vb installation and "administration".....I'm totally lost here. But every error
is exactly the same regarding all the information in the actual error message ( mysql error message at the beginning of this post (can't connect or pconnect..../var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock).
And, our actual domain name IS NOT www.customersnw.com, it's customersnw.com.
One other thing of significance is that the database was imported from a phpbb 2.x site.
We have had the hosting company check the my.cnf file and supposedly the file contents are correct & the path to mysql.sock is correct.
A client section was also added: [client]
socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock


Any comments or constructive suggestions regarding this error would be appreciated.
Thank you.