db was down, turned out i needed diskspace, i resized, db still would not start.

kept getting:
sudo mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)

decided to reinstall mysql but:

sudo apt-get install mysql-server
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
mysql-server is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Setting up mysql-server-5.5 (5.5.37-0ubuntu0.12.04.1) ...
start: Job failed to start
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed.
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                            dpkg: error processing mysql-server-5.5 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mysql-server:
 mysql-server depends on mysql-server-5.5; however:
  Package mysql-server-5.5 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing mysql-server (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 mysql-server-5.5
 mysql-server
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

i tried:

sudo apt-get clean

sudo apt-get autoclean

sudo apt-get purge mysql-server*

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

I still get:

unable to set password for the mysql 'root' user
an error occurred whiel setting the password for the mysql administrative user. this may have happened because the account already has a password, or because of a communication problem with the mysql server.

you should check the accounts password after the package installation.

read the /usr/share/doc/mysql-server-5.5/readme.debian file for more information.

also when i do sudo apt-get autoremove:

sudo apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up mysql-server-5.5 (5.5.37-0ubuntu0.12.04.1) ...
start: Job failed to start
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed.
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                          dpkg: error processing mysql-server-5.5 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mysql-server:
 mysql-server depends on mysql-server-5.5; however:
  Package mysql-server-5.5 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing mysql-server (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 mysql-server-5.5
 mysql-server
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

please any help appreciated

Despite max googling and desperate hair pulling this issue was never resolved. Searches also revealed many similar instances.

Resorted to reverting to 6am backup (system crashed 2pm). After successfully rebooting I immediately resized it to avoid the lack of disk space issue that started the crash in the first place, and now everything's dandy.

Still wonder about that non reinstalling mysql issue. Tried every possible permutation including using root et al but it just would not budge.

This happened in CentOS, and the solution was to uninstall MySQL and dependents AND manually delete anyfile, folder, path (using LOCATE) that had the word MySQL in it. Then clean YUM, then reinstall MySQL and components.

No idea if the same process would help with a DEB distro.

_________________
Either provide enough details for people to help, or sit back and listen to the crickets chirp.
Security thru obscurity is a myth - and really really annoying.

sledge hammer sysadmin tactics at it best.

probably a purge removed the config file, new default config didn't match the mysql data (or innodb_log_file_size) and no one showed/looked at a mysql error log or running mysqld directly.