I always get this whenever I have not started the database. Anyway, it occurs because Hibernate cannot connect to MySQL. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4018377#4018377 Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&p=4018377