Having a problem getting mysqli_query to execute

Have you checked the return value of mysqli_query()? It returns FALSE if an error occurred. In that case mysqli_error() gives you more information about the error.

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost", "root", "", "test");
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  printf("Connect failed: %s\n", mysqli_connect_error());
  exit();
}

$query = "INSERT INTO files VALUES (NULL, 5, 'hello')";
echo "<pre>Debug: $query</pre>\m";
$result = mysqli_query($con, $query);
if ( false===$result ) {
  printf("error: %s\n", mysqli_error($con));
}
else {
  echo 'done.';
}