I'm having loads of weird issues on Magento CE 1.7.0.2. During normal operations, the site will occasionally produce a Magento Error Page (*There has been an error processing your request*) on both frontend and backend. Viewing the associated report, I see the following message:

    "SQLSTATE[HY000] [2006] MySQL server has gone away"

Sometimes, but more rarely, the report message will read:

     Connection reset by peer

I have looked at the **var > log > system.log** and the `MySQL has gone away` error is accompanied by the following:

    Warning: PDO::__construct(): MySQL server has gone away  in /var/www/html/domain.com/live/lib/Zend/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Abstract.php on line 129
    Error while reading greeting packet. PID=1863  in /var/www/html/domain.com/live/lib/Zend/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Abstract.php on line 129

In addition to this, the following error seems to be happening on every request, as well as the `MySQL has gone away` errors:

     Warning: include(File.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory  in /var/www/html/domain.com/live/lib/Varien/Autoload.php on line 93
     Warning: include(): Failed opening 'File.php' for inclusion

I have looked most of the articles I can find about this and tinkered with the database parameters till the cows came home but the error remains.

After following [another QnA][1] about the compiler, I notice that the admin page **System > Tools > Compilation** is completely blank. I think these are all related errors but any insight into debugging or causes would be so helpful.

I apologise if this is incoherent; I've been awake for about 42 hours, so please ask for any clarification. Thank you.


  [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11168187/blank-screen-on-system-configuration-in-admin-panel-for-magento