any chance someone may have had any experience starting up a mysql 5.1beta server on a 98se w.sp2a machine?

I had 4.1 running, then installed 5.0. It launches a server, which mysql clients, such as sqlyog, can see, but I can no longer administer the main server/user database from the mysql prompt--such as shut it down and close all files. Becaue of caching, etc., bad shutdowns can affect data security. Entering "mysqld --console" (from a dos window prompt) launches the service, but then the 5.0 server hangs on a blinking underscore, and does not return a mysql> prompt. I have to use ^C ^Z to shutdown. If I enter mysqld alone, it starts the service, and returns the C:> prompt, so shutting down the server requires a ctrl-alt-del.

I was thinking of trying 5.1 before going back to 4.1 ...

It was never intended to run on the 9x family of OSs.