added a conditional for $this->port in the mysqli driver.  Apparently it doesn't like being sent an empty string.
diff --git a/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php b/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
index 4bbe5eb..f72db64 100644
--- a/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
+++ b/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
@@ -60,7 +60,15 @@
 	 */	

 	function db_connect()

 	{

-		return @mysqli_connect($this->hostname, $this->username, $this->password, $this->database, $this->port);

+		if ($this->port != '')

+		{

+			return @mysqli_connect($this->hostname, $this->username, $this->password, $this->database, $this->port);			

+		}

+		else

+		{

+			return @mysqli_connect($this->hostname, $this->username, $this->password, $this->database);

+		}

+

 	}

 

 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------