Why do I get "MySQL is not running but lock exists"?

Question

I am getting this error

mysql is not running but lock exist

when I am checking the status of MySQL server. I have removed the lock files using following command:

rm /var/lock/subsys/mysql

but still I am getting same error.

Can anyone provide any input on this.

Answer 1

try using the unix lsof command to see which program has the lock

lsof | grep mysql

EDIT:in fact, run lsof on the lock itself

lsof /var/lock/subsys/mysql