lost passwords

julianfromgreat dunmow wrote:

Since I upgraded to Monterey on a "new" machine (2016) I seem to lose a lot of data: -

Half an hour ago I sent an email. now it wants the password for my mail server. I looked it up in Keychain but BTINTERNET said it was the wrong password.

My Epson ET-2650 printer (on wifi) is either "not found" or it comes up with a "communication error"

When I use the Epson Scan utility it shows "no scanner" so I add it and am able to scan - until the next time, when it shows "no scanner"

I can no longer log in to "Dropbox"

I have re-installed Mojave, but to no avail.

Disk access appear slow when I launch an app, but within the app access appears good- even when I am using a large CAD program.

Your post raises a number of questions.

(1) The "new" computer is from 2016? Did you obtain it second hand? If so, did you follow the instructions here first, before using it: Erase your Mac and reset it to factory settings - Apple Support

(Note the instructions in that article for older Macs ...)

If you did not, you may have inherited some problems from the earlier installations and users.

(2) Keychains contain multiple versions of passwords. Do you not remember your email password? If you do not, contact your email provider to determine how to resolve that.

(3) You may need to first remove the Epson printer/scanner from the Printers and Scanners System Preferences and then completely reinstall the drivers and software from the Epson web site. But see item (1) above first.

(4) You are not providing enough info about your Dropbox issue for a solution to be devised. Can you log into Dropbox through a web interface (through a web browser)? If not, you need to contact Dropbox about your account, your issue is not with the Mac. Otherwise, uninstall and then reinstall Dropbox.

(5) To "reinstall Mojave" properly you would need to erase/format your drive, to downgrade from Monterey. Did you do that?

The slow disk access could be due to any of the above, or failing hardware on a vintage or obsolete computer (7 years old). What type of internal drive do you have, is it a HDD (mechanical drive) or an SSD? An HDD will be very slow, they are basically obsolete and run very slowly with the newer MacOS such as Monterey. To fix that, see this Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community or replace the internal drive with an SSD.

What to do? I would start by following instructions in (1) to restore the Mac to factory settings. Make sure all your files are reliably backed up first because they will have to be restored from your backup after factory resetting the Mac. Restore only files and accounts, do not restore applications or settings or anything else. Then update the Mac to the latest MacOS it can go to. Then reinstall all your software.

julianfromgreat dunmow wrote:

1) Yes I bought is second hand and I reset it to factory settings.

2) I knew the e-mail password, but the computer had forgotten it.

3) I have removed the printer and re-installed it, but again the computer forgot what I had done.

4) Yes, I can log into Dropbox via my web browser.

6) Sorry - that was a typo. I am using Monterey and have not used Mojave.

The internal drive is a HDD and I have re-installed Monterey three times - from factory settings. I am beginning to think that the problem is with the HDD., but I don't want to open up the mac unless it is absolutely necessary.

Not sure I am following exactly what you have done.

Second hand computers are sometimes sold because they have problems. A 2016 computer is considered obsolete (past its useful life) by Apple. Some resellers are reputable and certify their products (e.g. Apple, OWC) but their used computers cost more. What was the source for your computer?

If you reset it to factory settings it should have forgotten all passwords. Did you migrate over your previous setup? If so, how?

I suggest that you run the free utility Etrecheck which will produce an anonymous report that you should post here using the Additional text button below. This may help diagnose your issue(S).