MySQL ERROR! The server quit without updating PID file

I installed MySQL using brew. Suddenly, after running mysql.start I get the following error:

jmeena@Js-MacBook-Pro /usr/local/var % mysql.server start
Starting MySQL
.. ERROR! The server quit without updating PID file (/usr/local/var/mysql/Js-MacBook-Pro.local.pid).

In the logs, I would see:

Can’t connect to local MySQL server through socket ‘/tmp/mysql.sock

Solution 1: Change ownership of the MySQL folder

This solution is very popular on StackOverflow:

jmeena@Js-MacBook-Pro /usr/local/var % sudo chown -R _mysql:_mysql mysql

You can check which user has permission by running ls -la and looking at the first few columns. The correct user is the _mysql or home user, not admin.

Solution 2: Change permissions of the MySQL folder

jmeena@Js-MacBook-Pro % sudo chmod 777 /usr/local/var/mysql

Solution 3: Change permissions of the MySQL folder

jmeena@Js-MacBook-Pro % sudo chmod 777 /usr/local/var/

Solution 4:

Check your config file. You can find the location of your config file by:

mysql --verbose --help | grep my.cnf