mysql problems

I have installed and reinstalled mysql a couple of times but still haven’t got a functioning version. First of all I installed the version which comes with suse 8.0, via Yast but mysqld died as soon as it started, so I tried installing from the downloaded files and got the same problem. I tried modifying ownership of all the relevant directories, but this hasn’t helped so far…

I know this is a bit vague but I dont have the machine with me and would rather not mention versions, file names and error messages at all if I can’t be accurate!