Store Checkout Issue - problems getting to checkout_shipping page

hi all,

I've had my zen cart store setup for about a month. Everything seems to be working fine. Now, when I add a product to the shopping cart and press the checkout button, I get the following error message:

2013 Lost connection to MySQL server during query
in:
[select sum(tax_rate) as tax_rate from (zen_tax_rates tr left join zen_zones_to_geo_zones za on (tr.tax_zone_id = za.geo_zone_id) left join zen_geo_zones tz on (tz.geo_zone_id = tr.tax_zone_id) ) where (za.zone_country_id is null or za.zone_country_id = 0 or za.zone_country_id = '223') and (za.zone_id is null or za.zone_id = 0 or za.zone_id = '19') and tr.tax_class_id = '1' group by tr.tax_priority]
2006 MySQL server has gone away
in:
[select count() as total from zen_sessions where sesskey = 'f2886593c98e686b7a0b1be903396851']

Warning: Unknown(): A session is active. You cannot change the session module's ini settings at this time. in Unknown on line 0*

Anyone ever had this error message before?

I appreciate your help in advance.

Thanks Much

Do you know what version of mysql you are using and on what operating system.

It may be that your host has upgraded mysql, and new settings are causing the problem.

You can get your mysql version/os in the admin under tools/server/version info

wilt:

Do you know what version of mysql you are using and on what operating system.

It may be that your host has upgraded mysql, and new settings are causing the problem.

You can get your mysql version/os in the admin under tools/server/version info

here is the info I found:

Database: MySQL 4.1.22-max-log
Server OS: Linux 2.4.21-50.ELsmp
PHP Version: 4.3.11 (Zend: 1.3.0)
Zen Cart 1.3.7
Database Patch Level: 1.3.7

Let me know if you need any additional information

wilt:

Do you know what version of mysql you are using and on what operating system.

It may be that your host has upgraded mysql, and new settings are causing the problem.

You can get your mysql version/os in the admin under tools/server/version info

I found out the cause of my problem. I am using the USPS shipping module and it seems that there is an issue with connectivity to USPS servers. I will contact them on this to see whats gong on. For now i have the USPS shipping module disabled.