Why does OS X Mail ALWAYS ask for my password

Question

Why does OS X Mail ALWAYS ask for my password

This is driving me nuts. I have my mail set to check for new mail every minute. I have three active email accounts. One of them CONSTANTLY asks me for my password. I will be working on something in another app and I see it bouncing in the dock and the password window forces its way forward. It does this at times almost every minute when it is checking for new mail. Other times it doesn't happen for a while and is random. And it is not exclusive to this particular email account however this particular account has it the worst. The other two get it from time to time but very seldom.

I don't get it. I've checked the prefs and there is there that relates to this. No setting that would seem to aid in this.

Any ideas would be very helpful.

Thanks

G5/Powerbook 17 Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Posted on Nov 30, 2005 9:07 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

82,941 points

Nov 30, 2005 9:11 AM in response to Chris Bellio1

This can often happen because of keychain corruption.

Open your Keychain Access application and attempt to repair the keychain for that account with the application's utility for doing so. If asked to open a keychain, never click on the Just Once button (or similar button, I haven't seen it in awhile, but that button has given me the most trouble), rather click on Always.

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Answer 2

Nov 30, 2005 9:20 AM in response to a brody

Thanks, I'm just going to try that. However I meant to mention in my post that it is not the keychain password that is being asked for but rather the email account passwords. I can see that the keychain password being corrupt might affect that as well so I will try that now.

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Answer 3

Nov 30, 2005 9:24 AM in response to Chris Bellio1

Does the same occur when setting Mail to check for new mail every 5 or 15 minutes?

If there are a number of messages to download and/or a message or messages contain attachments and the download process is not completed and the communication with the server closed before the next automatic check for new mail, the prompt to manually enter the account's password will be provided instead of an error message indicating there was a problem communicating with the server or the account will be taken offline.

The same can occur if there is heavy network traffic at the incoming mail server for the account when the Mail.app checks for new mail.

I have the Mail.app set to check for new mail every 15 minutes and if I am prompted to manually enter an account's password, this indicates there is a temporary problem at the incoming mail server for the account.

I have provided feedback to Apple requesting the Mail.app provide a communication with the server error message instead of a request to manually enter the account's password.

Try changing it to every 5 minutes as a test.

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Answer 4

Nov 30, 2005 9:27 AM in response to Allan Sampson

Will try that too. I know that it happens regardless of whether there is mail actually coming in or not. Most of the time I put in the password and there is nothing coming in let alone something of any substantial size.

I did try the verify and repair in the keychain. It did say that there were confilcts in my keychain so that may be the solution. I HOPE!!!

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Answer 5

stacy3

Level 1

0 points

Nov 30, 2005 10:50 AM in response to Chris Bellio1

the exact same thing has been happening to me with the mail application - regardless of whether mail is coming in or not. It only started recently - not when i first installed Tiger - i'm thinking it started after i downloaded one of the updates. it happens on both of the mail accounts we have on this computer but on one more than the other. it isn't a problem with the keychain. i hope it is a glich in the update and would be fixed next time around.

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Answer 6

Nov 30, 2005 10:53 AM in response to stacy3

What is your time interval setting for automatically checking for new mail?

I have the Mail.app set to check for new mail every 15 minutes and I haven't experienced the same with all available Tiger updates installed.

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Answer 7

stacy3

Level 1

0 points

Nov 30, 2005 11:20 AM in response to Allan Sampson

it was 5 min. but i just set it to 15 min. i'll see if that works.

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Answer 8

Nov 30, 2005 11:23 AM in response to stacy3

Every 5 minutes should be fine.

Have you checked with your ISP or email account provider for the account this happens more often with to see if there have been any incoming mail server problems or maintenance, etc.?

In addition, are you connected thru a router?

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Answer 9

Nov 30, 2005 11:36 AM in response to stacy3

Well, it would appear that a brody was correct in how to fix the issue. It has been a couple of hours since I posted my original concern and just shortly after that received and implemented a brody's suggestion. I have yet to have the issue pop up that was literally happening every minute from the time I logged in this morning.

So the summation is this. I went into the keychain and used the "Keychain First Aid" to run a verification. The verification turned up some problems and it was as simple as clicking the repair button to solve this.

Stacy, give this a try if you haven't already and see how it works for you. I'd be interested to see if you have the same results.

Thanks a lot guys.

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Answer 10

Nov 30, 2005 8:59 PM in response to Chris Bellio1

Wow, I just posted a very similar topic before seeing this topic.

Copy and Pasted from my topic:

I've been using my Yahoo (Pacbell) account with Mail for a few years now and for some reason starting about last week a window pops up all the time asking me for my Yahoo account password, say it was rejected by the server.

This is strange because everthing was working fine before and I never touch my settings. The password for the account is the same password I've always used and even when I enter the password in the dialog box it accepts it, so why does it always keep telling me the password was rejected by the server ecen though it accepts it when I reenter it.

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Answer 11

Nov 30, 2005 9:03 PM in response to Anthony Toy

Try running Keychain First Aid.

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Answer 12

jkdreno

Level 1

5 points

Nov 30, 2005 9:12 PM in response to Anthony Toy

Here's new rinkle - My SBCyahoo passwords are constantly asking for the password, even after working with the keychain first aid, but my yahoo account seems to stick. This is a brand new machine with Tiger - all was fine with Panther. Any other ideas out there?

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Answer 13

Nov 30, 2005 9:58 PM in response to Allan Sampson

I did the Keychain Repair but it didn't say there were any problems. But I'll wait and see, you never know.

...if you find out anything else let me know. Thanks

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Answer 14

a brody

Level 10

82,941 points

Dec 1, 2005 5:42 AM in response to jkdreno

I've had trouble with my own Yahoo account lately simply connecting via web browser. There may be technical difficulties on Yahoo's end.

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Answer 15

Dec 1, 2005 7:33 AM in response to Chris Bellio1

I am also w/ pacbell, and have been having the same problem on both my laptop and desktop for the last few weeks. I ran keychain first aid which says there are no problems, so I guess it's wait and see if someone can come up with an update. I'm sure Apple blames pacbell and vice versa.

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