[snakes1100]

yes & no, mysql has gone away, its NOT answering anymore, your users will still request the pages and apache will continue to answer even tho mysql isn't, so yes it will cause resources to be used even tho the site is not functioning anymore.

you need to modify my.cnf and make some adjustments to the mysql settings, but without looking at the server itself, we can not really tell you what settings need to be changed to help compensate for the mysql issue.

you can either post for a paid request to have the server checked by a capable person here or post at vb.com and wait for George/Eva to answer your post.