If no one can help me with my previous request, could someone possibly help me with setting up MyPHPadmin properly so I can restore my backup?
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=60117.msg416947#msg416947
Have you tried repairing and recounting statistics via the Maintenance section in the admin panel? Try re-uploading Recent.php as well.
I can't do this, I don't have any local copies of anything. All i have is the backup file that was generated from smf..which is useless to me without understanding how to configure myphpadmin to connect, which i don't.
Did you delete the forum you reported that original issue for?
As for configuring phpMyAdmin to connect, I *believe* the file you want is config.inc.php. If your site has some popular webhost manager installed (Cpanel, Ensim, etc.) phpMyAdmin should be there.
I didn't delete the forum, but when I try to connect to it I get
Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later.
My webhost does offer phpMyAdmin 2.4.0 (which I just found) , and my backup file can be used, but I have no idea how to restore it to the original location and restore my forums. Can I reinstall the original smf module and then import my backup or will that not work?
Well if SMF can't connect to the database, that means your SMF settings are most likely incorrect. Upload this (http://www.simplemachines.org/download.php/repair_settings.php) tool to the SMF directory and run it from your web browser. Double check your database settings there and make sure they are correct (does the MySQL user have access, etc). Save the updated settings and delete the file. If it still doesn't work, then your database is probably fried. To restore it, open up phpMyAdmin, click on any table in the SMF database, click SQL at the top of the right frame, and then choose the file and let phpMyAdmin do it's job. Beware it may take a while.