mariadb not working well after password reset

[Noah]

Hi,

I have a new 20.04 server and mariadb has been a little bit of challenge 
to get working.

currently I cant get it started.  And I cant seem to set the mariadb 
root password.

$ sudo systemctl status mariadb
● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.3.22 database server
      Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; 
vendor preset: enabled)
      Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2020-06-19 17:36:53 
UTC; 7min ago
        Docs: man:mysqld(8)
              https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
     Process: 526935 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/install -m 755 -o mysql -g 
root -d /var/run/mysqld (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
     Process: 526948 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment 
_WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
     Process: 526951 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ ! -e 
/usr/bin/galera_recovery ] && VAR= ||   VAR=`/usr/bin/galera_recovery`; 
[ $? -eq 0 ]   && systemctl set-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION=>
     Process: 526999 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mysqld $MYSQLD_OPTS 
$_WSREP_NEW_CLUSTER $_WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
    Main PID: 526999 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Jun 19 17:36:53 nuc2 systemd[1]: Starting MariaDB 10.3.22 database server...
Jun 19 17:36:53 nuc2 mysqld[526999]: 2020-06-19 17:36:53 0 [Note] 
/usr/sbin/mysqld (mysqld 10.3.22-MariaDB-1ubuntu1) starting as process 
526999 ...
Jun 19 17:36:53 nuc2 mysqld[526999]: 2020-06-19 17:36:53 0 [Warning] 
Can't create test file /var/lib/mysql/nuc2.lower-test
Jun 19 17:36:53 nuc2 mysqld[526999]: [97B blob data]
Jun 19 17:36:53 nuc2 mysqld[526999]: 2020-06-19 17:36:53 0 [ERROR] Aborting
Jun 19 17:36:53 nuc2 systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Main process exited, 
code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jun 19 17:36:53 nuc2 systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Failed with result 
'exit-code'.
Jun 19 17:36:53 nuc2 systemd[1]: Failed to start MariaDB 10.3.22 
database server.

$ sudo mysql_secure_installation

NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MariaDB
       SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE!  PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!

In order to log into MariaDB to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user.  If you've just installed MariaDB, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.

Enter current password for root (enter for none):
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket 
'/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)
Enter current password for root (enter for none):
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket 
'/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)
Enter current password for root (enter for none):