Cannot log into support communities

HI,

I have reported this to the Hosts.

At this stage it will be a wait and see.

9:55 PM Saturday; May 19, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.4)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.7.4),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

BFIPAD

You have done an excellent job of describing this problem which is on at least 3 threads. The best i have been able to find is that it is a conflict between 2 apple IDs using the same e mail address. Why apple should let us have 2 IDs with the same address if it's going to be a problem is another issue. Please find below a link to another thread where Ivan54 has posted. This has given me a partial soloution as you will see from my post in that thread. Good luck!

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3942875?answerId=18445602022#18445602022

Only a theory but I have had the odd problem in the past though I can't remember how I resolved it. All is well nowadays. Anyway, my theory is that once you enter a user name or password, whether or not you complete the process, those details are recorded somehow ... and that is why the message comes up ; an account utilising this password/username/email address already exists.

I'm sure the one of the hosts will eventually pick this up and correct me if I'm wrong; we'll have to wait and see.

Think I've cracked it! (I'm BFIPAD).

So knowing the various user IDs, I've managed to log into each of them as my passwords are standard ones (to me!) and changed the email addresses on all of them to one I don't use (hotmail).

Sure enough, all three had the same primary email address.

The next step will be to get these old accounts deleted I guess, but at least I'm on now with the my Community ID linked to the correct AppleID.

Hi BFIPAD (AKA 7JJB7). Please do let us know if it has cracked it. For me changing the password and then getting in and changing e mail addresses has allowed me to separate the accounts BUT I still get the problem at the top of this thread with my primary account. (ie not the one I'm posting this from). Anyway I hope it works for you.

BTW in response to BFIPAD, I take it you mean change rating my comment from 'helpful' and upgrade it to 'solution' ? It's just what you wrote could be interpretted as 'solution not helpful' which I think it was 🙂 ?

BFIPAD. Just mark his last post as solved by using the last greenie you have left. All the same, recyclemichael, you are not supposed to 'ask' for points; it's against the rules.

@ Seventy one, sorry if it looked like I was asking for points I was just pointing out that English is a funny old language and it looked like BFBAD had written 'solution not helpful' in response to my post. At the risk of taking this off topic, I'm very new to this could you explain what a greenie is and how to use it? How many have i got to use?

Good response recyclemichael. The person who posts the original question is the only one who can award points. At the bottom of each response to his/her original question is an option of...

A green star (Greenie) for SOLVING the problem ... and that is worth 10 points.

Two gold stars (Goldies) which are for HELPFUL answers each of which is worth 5 points.

To award the points whoever asks the original question clicks on the post with the correct or helpful answer ... and then the option of the green or yellow star.

It is the prerogative of the original poster as to what constitutes helpful; indeed, depending on the level of expertise as to what constitutes a solution too. On some occasions you will see answers that are patently wrong but marked with a star but all the same that was the interpretation of the poster.

The correct answer will often appear later when one of the 'professionals' notices. And that is where the community spirit shows. These experts rarely take anyone to task, they simply supply their answer and get on with the next problem.

Enjoy your use of the forums ... they are excellent sources of information; and be patient, it can take quite some time to accumulate even a modest points total where most of us are concerned.

Thanks for that clarity Seventy one, that also explains where my 5 points came from. Now if only there was a solution to the original problem for my account.....

Yes English is a daft language and despite it being my native one for the best part of 30 years clearly I haven't got a grasp of it yet :) Sorry for confusion, it's still helpful but it's also the solution! So I was looking to upgrade your post from helpful to solution!

Anyways, to get this post back on track here's what I did:

Used the find my AccountID to identify all the accounts associated with my email address.

Logged into each of the unwanted accounts and changed the email address to and old email address leaving just the account I wanted to keep.

When returning to the communities page, I was still met with the registration window at which point I chose a desired username and voila I'm in.

I will also point out, I didn't get in first time, the same error (more than one account) came up but 5 minutes later it worked, so something must have taken a short while to replicate.

EM, at which point are you stuck then?

7JJB7 wrote:

... Sure enough, all three had the same primary email address.

I thought it was no longer possible add an email address to an Apple ID that already exists (or is identical to) another Apple ID. That would have explained your original difficulty. Nevertheless, you were able to designate identical email addresses for different Apple IDs?

Was your original profile - the one for 7JJB7 - completely restored as you expected it to be?

The next step will be to get these old accounts deleted I guess,

This I do not believe is possible without human intervention, and may not be worth the effort anyway. Just don't use the others.

John Galt wrote:

I thought it was no longer possible add an email address to an Apple ID that already exists (or is identical to) another Apple ID. That would have explained your original difficulty. Nevertheless, you were able to designate identical email addresses for different Apple IDs?

Well I guess so, but these account are old - one was last used 2009, the other 2011. Albeit, I have actually set the email address for both of them to the same email address (though neither have been verified).

John Galt wrote:

This I do not believe is possible without human intervention, and may not be worth the effort anyway. Just don't use the others.

Yeah that's what I meant in a housekeeping kind of way, just get Apple to get rid.

John Galt wrote:

Was your original profile - the one for 7JJB7 - completely restored as you expected it to be?

Hard to say really, since I've never really used the Apple Community at all until now. I've only been a reader as I'm generally able to find solutions using the search 🙂