Sudden "MySQL server has gone away" error in PHP site

As I said in my update, I concluded that the problem with MySQL arises when the link to Facebook takes longer than the maximum connection time with the DB. None of the suggestions could beat this limitation, so I decided to work around it and reconnect every time I presumed the link maybe gone.

So after each call to Facebook, I used to following code:

$this->load->database();$this->db->reconnect();

This is the particular solution when using CodeIgniter, and AFAIK the db->reconnect() function is only available since version 1.7.2 so I updated it in order to work.

Thanks everyone for your answers!

It's probably a connection time out affecting your persistent connections in PHP. I used to see them all of the time. The timeout parameter is within MySQL itself.

Your options include:- not using persistent connections- turning off idle timeout on the MySQL server- trapping the error

I always wrap reconnection into my own PDO class, so I can't even remember if PHP reconnects or not. In any case, it's an easy fix. On query, catch & reconnect.

I have "generated" this error in the past with InnoDB. If you're using that engine, what's the output of SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS after a failure?

Since the other sites work, we can assume that it is related to your site (and not the server). The official documents mention that this might happen if you try to execute queries after the server connection is closed. Do you have any hooks in CodeIgniter that does something towards the end of a request where the database connection might be closed?