simply means that connection is not possible for one of the following (or similar) reasons:

* There is no MySQL server running at the specified host

* Connection to the MySQL server is not allowed using TCP-IP. Check the 'skip-networking' setting in the MySQL configuration file (my.ini on Windows, my.cnf on Unix/Linux). It shall be commented out like '#skip-networking'. If it is not commented out, then do it and restart the MySQL server for the change to take effect. SQLyog needs to connect using TCP-IP.

* Some networking issue prevents connection. It could be a network malconfiguration or a firewall issue. We have experienced sometimes that some firewalls (ZoneAlarm in particular) is blocking TCP-IP connections even if it claims to be disabled. Most often it will help to uninstall and reinstall the firewall.

* When trying to connect to a MySQL server at an ISP this error message often indicates that direct connection to MySQL has been blocked. You must then use HTTP-tunneling or SSH-tunneling to connect.

* Also this FAQ may have relevant information. It describes some more special situations when connection to MySQL on Linux.