MySql connection issue - Joomla! Forum - community, help and support

hi, first joomla install, after 5 years of oscommerce. experience didn't start good, having come forum password caps , numbers, not average forum account, bank of america platinum credit card account or something. anyway, issue.

i'm getting "unable connect database:could not connect mysql" when i'm trying setup joomla on xampp / localhost.

i've verified connection "manually" trough simple script:

<?php
mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "") or die(mysql_error());
echo "connected mysql<br />";
mysql_select_db("joomla") or die(mysql_error());
echo "connected database";
?>

and works, of course. however, using exact same parameters, joomla refuses install, serving me same error, everytime. idea?

thanks in advance

hope entering database connectivity information follows:

host name: localhost
user name: root
password: not enter default, user name root not have password.
database: enter suitable database name
table prefix: _jos (this default value)