最近好像常看到5.1安装有问题，，随带给你一脚本吧，本人安装没有什么问题:
 
#!/bin/bash
#wirte by badb0y
wget [url]http://dev.mysql.com/get/Downloads/MySQL-5.1/mysql-5.1.31.tar.gz/from/http://mysql.easynet.be/[/url]
tar -zxvf mysql-5.1.31.tar.gz
cd mysql-5.1.31
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-charset=utf8 --with-extra-charsets=all --enable-assembler --enable-thread-safe-client --with-big-tables --with-readline --with-ssl --with-embedded-server --enable-local-infile
make;make install
groupadd mysql
useradd -g mysql mysql
cp /usr/local/mysql/share/mysql/my-medium.cnf /etc/my.cnf
sed -i 's/skip-federated/#skip-federated/g' /etc/my.cnf
/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_install_db --user=mysql
chmod +w /usr/local/mysql
chown -R mysql /usr/local/mysql/var
chgrp -R mysql /usr/local/mysql/.
cp /usr/local/mysql/share/mysql/mysql.server /etc/init.d/mysql
chmod 755 /etc/init.d/mysql
chkconfig --level 345 mysql