FAIL Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld failed!

[FAIL] Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld failed!

For me, finally this worked to make the debian.cnf password for debian-sys-maint be accepted again:

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop
[FAIL] Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld failed!

# cat /etc/mysql/debian.cnf|grep password
password = 58fvnf3hjf902jf5
password = 58fvnf3hjf902jf5

# mysql -u root -p
Enter password: 
[...]

mysql> update mysql.user set password=password("58fvnf3hjf902jf5") where user='debian-sys-maint';
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
Rows matched: 1  Changed: 1  Warnings: 0

mysql> flush privileges;

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop
[ ok ] Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld.
root@pomo:/home/joostje# /etc/init.d/mysql start
[ ok ] Starting MySQL database server: mysqld ..
[info] Checking for tables which need an upgrade, are corrupt or were 
not closed cleanly..