Recently I have updated from MySQL 5.1 to 5.5 and after few weeks the following error message was displayed each time I access the phpMyAdmin application:
Run sudo mysql_upgrade -u root -p --force
Then restart mysql
i.e. sudo service mysql restart
or sudo service mysqld restart
depending on the version and distribution you have
You need to logout of phpMyAdmin then login for the change to take effect.
I was facing the same problem. It can be resolved by reconfiguring phpMyAdmin.
sudo dpkg-reconfigure phpmyadmin
Close phpMyAdmin page and