Does db.ini even get read??

[bsdlite]

Here is my problem (seems to be a common one on the boards, but I haven't seen a clear solution): After I run world.exe, I get

Error #1045: Access denied for user 'eq'@'localhost' (using password: YES)

The thing that I don't understand, is that regardless of what I change the values in db.ini to, it always tries to log in as 'eq'@'localhost'. I changed the values in db.ini to

user=blahblahblahfart
password=THISISN'TIT

and it still gives me the exact same error. I've done all of the grant privileges that has been recommended previously, and I know for a fact that both the users 'root' and 'eq' exist on my installation, because I've logged into them via the command line

mysql -u (insert 'root' or 'eq' here) -p

and they work fine.

No, I don't use winmysqladmin. Yes, I know what my root password is. Yes, I know what my 'eq' password is.

Any ideas?? How can I get it to log into MySQL under the username I'm providing to it?!?

...

Useful info:

---------------------------------------------
[03.24. - 15:25:09] Starting Log: logs/eqemu_debug_world_1408.log
[03.24. - 15:25:09] [WORLD__INIT] Loading server configuration..
[03.24. - 15:25:09] [WORLD__INIT] Log settings loaded from log.ini
[03.24. - 15:25:09] [WORLD__INIT] CURRENT_WORLD_VERSION:EQEMu 0.6.5
[03.24. - 15:25:09] [WORLD__INIT] Connecting to MySQL...
[03.24. - 15:25:09] [WORLD__INIT_ERR] Cannot continue without a database connection.