<?php
$conn = mysql_connect("localhost", "пользователь", "пароль") or die ("Could not connect: " . mysql_error());
 $conn1 = mysql_select_db("bd1", $conn);
$result = mysql_query("SELECT id, counter, text FROM test1 WHERE id = 1, $conn1");
if (!$result) {echo "zapros na viborcu ne proshol."; mysql_error();}

$x = mysql_fetch_array($result);
echo $x["counter"];

mysql_close($conn);
   ?>

mysql_query("запрос") or die(mysql_error());