@mk After a lot of futzing around with phpMyAdmin I followed one suggestion I found: stopped #mySQL and made a backup of the database *files* (simple local rsync), then UNinstalled phpMyAdmin. Planning toe-install it I noticed ASUSTOR's App Central also has something called SQL Buddy - so I installed that. And it let me log in without any problem. It's simple. It works. That's all I need. I supect #phpMyAdmin has just become more and more complex to the point where it's become fragile... So it's #SQLBuddy for now. Dropping the 'pspmyadmin' database... #nas