How can I display normal php errors?

[eluser]0plus1[/eluser]
[quote author="zEsHaN" date="1258056557"]You may enable error reporting from index.php on root by setting:
error_reporting(E_ALL);[/quote]

This continues to show the:

Code:

A Database Error Occurred

Unable to select the specified database: xxx

instead of the "real" php error