diff -r dcf5381ce8ba -r 2c20563245b2 install/includes/cli-core.php
--- a/install/includes/cli-core.php	Sun Jan 25 21:20:14 2009 -0500
+++ b/install/includes/cli-core.php	Sun Jan 25 21:21:07 2009 -0500
@@ -314,7 +314,10 @@
 if ( !$result )
 {
   if ( !$silent )
+  {
     echo parse_shellcolor_string($lang->get('cli_test_fail')) . "\n";
+    echo "[$driver] " . $dbal->sql_error() . "\n";
+  }
   installer_fail($lang->get('cli_err_db_connect_fail'));
 }