Site broken. How do I fix Couldn't repair table: civicrm.log_civicrm_status_pref?
Found the problem. Corrupt log tables. Causes MEGA-chaos for poor mysql. It's crash-a-roo anytime a CiviCRM table is used.

To resolve, 

Find where the civicrm databases are stored. If on a typical *nix distribution and using mysql, likely /var/lib/mysql/civicrm

Shutdown mysql (service mysql stop)

Create a new directory (mkdir logtables), now move all the log tables into that directory (mv civicrm.log_* logtables)

Clear out the error.log files so you can see what is happening each time you start mysql. To do that cat /dev/null >/var/log/mysql/error.log (this assumes the mysql server log file is located at /var/log/mysql, which you'd check before issuing that command)

Start mysql (service mysql start)

If you do not have root privileges the OS will freak out when you attempt to move the log tables. Suggest elevating your privileges to root either using sudo (e.g. sudo mv civicrm.log_*) or su root, then go crazy but not too crazy. Remember, there's no undo in Unix/Linux. After starting mysql, check the mysql server's log file to see if it's happy again.