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beni · Mar 1, 2004, 11:55 AM

Lately (last few months) Mail has asked me to enter my password for my .mac e-mail account quite frequently (once a week or so). AFAIK, this usually means the e-mail server has had downtime. This is very frustrating, i have lost several e-mails, that I know off, and other people have not recieved mails I have sent. (No error messages

)

Of course, this is totally unacceptable, but it would be much better if Apple at least could admit that there have been problems, and notify me.

A lot of people have said this is a big problem when using .mac for business, but i find it even worse when it comes to personal relationships.

Admins: maybe you could make a sticky thread where people can notify others when they encounter problems?

Maflynn · Mar 1, 2004, 12:01 PM

Originally posted by beni:
Lately (last few months) Mail has asked me to enter my password for my .mac e-mail account quite frequently (once a week or so).

Admins: maybe you could make a sticky thread where people can notify others when they encounter problems?

I don't think prompting for your password equates that the system is down. Not being able to get your email or having stuff bouce back because there's problems with the servers mean its down.

I've not heard any major issue with .mac for a long time, I get my emails every day and I check them on the web through out the day. I see no reason to make this a sticky, besides if people post to the thread if there's problems will bump this back to the top.

Mike

::maroma:: · Mar 1, 2004, 01:31 PM

Sounds like your permissions for Keychain are funked up. Search versiontracker.com for a keychain repair utility. I had this same problem a while ago, and the utility worked for me. It has nothing to do with .mac servers. It's your local prefs that are funky.

SMacTech · Mar 1, 2004, 02:59 PM

In the last week .mac has been experiencing several problems. I couldn't publish my blog, iPhotos or get mail on several occasions. However, this has been in the last week. Prior to that, I have had very little problems with .mac availability.

-Q- · Mar 1, 2004, 03:03 PM

Sorry, it's not the permissions or anything else. It might be Mail screwing something up, but at least twice a day the Mail icon is bouncing in the doc b/c it says my .Mac password isn't being accepted. And no amount of typing will fix it. I just have to wait a while and whatever server is having the problem gets rebooted and everything works. .Mac is unreliable at best.

wataru · Mar 1, 2004, 03:38 PM

Originally posted by ::maroma:::
Sounds like your permissions for Keychain are funked up. Search versiontracker.com for a keychain repair utility. I had this same problem a while ago, and the utility worked for me. It has nothing to do with .mac servers. It's your local prefs that are funky.

Keychain repair is built into the Keychain Access app in Panther.

intake · Mar 1, 2004, 04:51 PM

I also have my .Mac email system occasionally ask me for a password when checking. Entering the correct password returned 'Password Rejected' from mail and I was again asked for a password. At that point, I just have to set that account to offline.

SMacTech · Mar 1, 2004, 05:58 PM

What he said ^^^^ Additionally, a failure of connecting to .Mac may be any connection between you and .Mac. Try a traceroute to .Mac next time and see where it fails.

CatOne · Mar 1, 2004, 06:20 PM

Originally posted by wataru:
Keychain repair is built into the Keychain Access app in Panther.

I looked, but couldn't find this. Care to point me to it (the repair, not the app

)

Kenneth · Mar 1, 2004, 08:54 PM

Originally posted by CatOne:
I looked, but couldn't find this. Care to point me to it (the repair, not the app )

Look for Keychain First Aid

SMacTech · Mar 1, 2004, 09:37 PM

Originally posted by Kenneth:
Look for Keychain First Aid

It is in the Window menu of the app. Who would of thought? Isn't this menu for selecting windows that are already opened?

MindFad · Mar 2, 2004, 12:37 AM

This happens when .Mac goes down. It happened to me today, too. It was only for a few minutes, though. Or, at least, a few minutes from when I attempted checking my mail�it could've been longer. It would be cool if Apple could put an error message into mail.app that let you know .Mac was down instead of the "what's your password again?" message.

Gee4orce · Mar 2, 2004, 01:43 AM

They've done something to .Mac webmail, because it's not much faster to log on.

intake · Mar 2, 2004, 09:57 AM

Originally posted by MindFad:
This happens when .Mac goes down. It happened to me today, too. It was only for a few minutes, though. Or, at least, a few minutes from when I attempted checking my mail�it could've been longer. It would be cool if Apple could put an error message into mail.app that let you know .Mac was down instead of the "what's your password again?" message.

The POP mail server seems to accept a login request, but it can't authenticate your credentials. It would be better if the mail server just stopped responding.

intake · Mar 2, 2004, 10:20 AM

It just did it to me a few minutes ago. I took screen shot of the error.

Putting a password in immediately will come back with the same error. I waited a few minutes, entered my password, and it was successful.

The annoying thing is that this will happen as many as 2-3 times a day. Yes, the correct password is stored in Keychain.

Sophus · Mar 2, 2004, 11:31 AM

Originally posted by intake:
It just did it to me a few minutes ago. I took screen shot of the error.

Putting a password in immediately will come back with the same error. I waited a few minutes, entered my password, and it was successful.

The annoying thing is that this will happen as many as 2-3 times a day. Yes, the correct password is stored in Keychain.

I have the same problems. Mail is set to check eveery five minutes, machine always on. I believe .mac MAPI service or authenticate is down pretty often.

Boondoggle · Mar 2, 2004, 01:01 PM

I believe this is a problem with Mail. I get it too but not frequently, and will more than just a .Mac account. In fact is happens rarely with my .Mac account as that is IMAP.

The big problem in this for me is that Mail completely hangs when this happens. It will stop checking mail in other accounts until the user hits cancel or enters the pword.

Quitting and restarting Mail or logging out will usually fix it until the next time.

bd

intake · Mar 2, 2004, 01:16 PM

It is possible that this is a problem IN ADDITION to .Mac being down. I have quit mail, and reopened and have received the same error with .Mac.

Love Calm Quiet · Mar 2, 2004, 05:18 PM

A year ago I was having some difficulty signing on to .mac via mail while traveling & having to use a dial-up connection.
I went to apple store and they had me sign on via the web mail at Apple.com and enter a new password (which I reset as the same old same old). And it functioned fine thereafter. I never undrstood what the weird voodoo of it was but... straightened things out

sbjordal · Mar 2, 2004, 06:05 PM

Originally posted by beni:
Lately (last few months) Mail has asked me to enter my password for my .mac e-mail account quite frequently (once a week or so). AFAIK, this usually means the e-mail server has had downtime. This is very frustrating, i have lost several e-mails, that I know off, and other people have not recieved mails I have sent. (No error messages )

Of course, this is totally unacceptable, but it would be much better if Apple at least could admit that there have been problems, and notify me.

A lot of people have said this is a big problem when using .mac for business, but i find it even worse when it comes to personal relationships.

Admins: maybe you could make a sticky thread where people can notify others when they encounter problems?

This is definitely a .mac issue. discussions.apple.com will usually have a thread as soon as more than one person has .mac issues.
This happens to me too quite frequently, and it's not a Mail program issue. Outlook on the Peecee has the same problem at the same time.

rlorenc · Mar 2, 2004, 08:45 PM

Yep, it's down now:

http://webmail.mac.com/unavailable/

I can't even check mail through Mail.

Hmmm......

UPDATE: I'm getting mail in Mail now...

gorickey · Mar 2, 2004, 08:48 PM

Originally posted by rlorenc:
Yep, it's down now:

http://webmail.mac.com/unavailable/

I can't even check mail through Mail.

Hmmm......

Yep, just noticed that too...

Damn!

[Edit: Back up already...that was quick!]