Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (no replies)

I'm facing an issue trying to log into a java application that I've created.

Here are the steps that I've taken and what I'm able to do and unable to do:

We currently have a joomla-php application running on our app server the application is having no problem connecting to the database it's working fine. The port is open on the firewall- no issues there. I've connected my local application to the database and have successfully logged in.

I'm unable to connect to the database when the code is deployed on the same server. I can connect to the database using command line so I know the user and password are correct. I can connect externally to the database using the same code so I know the code is correct. I am positive it's a user set up issue but am clueless as to what the exact issue is.

Even when I change the connection string to have a different username other then root (ie I created a different user for the app to connect with on localhost) I am still getting the error 'Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost', but I'm not tying to connect with user root???

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.