i definaly need to denie that part
i got now a server version 1078 (non pala version

)
i started with client version 1012
and it start to work at version 1028
now lets explain the problem
the client itself will work with the database , but there are some missing parts in the client itself that are needed
they changed a lot of things over time and you need those changes to be able to work
even more fun , server.dat is used until version 1025 , then it is coded until a other version and on version 1070 is it not coded anymore (it even overide the custom oem)
on version 1078 is it coded again
it realy depends on what is in your database and how it is located in your database to be able to work , it has to do to with the message server
i sucesfully mixed some parts of the mannequeen version with the oldest version ( 1078 ) that i could find
some parts does work (like mobs and exp) and other parts just make your account freeze
so saying that all clients are compitable with all database versions is rubish (i can proof it if you like

)
then to answer the red light question
if you see a red light then it means just 1 thing
mysql is not running
how is that possibel ?? , check if mysql is a service or started from a other location, the mysqladmin you are using starts up a certain mysql version and it can not start up if mysql is running already
or you just messed around with the settings of mysql and then it just crash all the time ??
hopely this helps
Greets From PowerChaos