error 'The page isn't redirecting properly' - after restoring DB on VPS, from shared host

Hi,

moved my site data from a shared host to VPS today. This is how I did it:

1. backed up the existing one from phpmyadmin - uncompressed .sql ; checked drop/create table options while exporting
2. Created a new empty database, with no tables, on the VPS
3. Installed Drupal 6.14 on the VPS under var/www/drupal, with webserver set to the same as root. Pointed to the new database while installing. db user is admin/pwd. table prefix is drupal_
4. Ran SQL to import the data from backup; verified import of all tables
5. Created the admin user on MySQL, with All rights on localhost
6. updated setings.php's db_url string as

$db_url = 'mysqli://admin:pwd@localhost/databasename';
$db_prefix = 'drupal_';

7. Set $update_free_access = true in settings.php;. ran the update and reset to False.

In the end, I get the error "The page isn't redirecting properly. Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.
* This problem can sometimes be caused by disabling or refusing to accept
cookies."

Why isn't the URL resolving correctly? I've neither edited the .htaccess nor enabled redirection in settings.php

help, please?