This Mac can't connect to iCloud because of a problem with...

I have the same problem and give up on Apple Support for this question, they have just led me down the garden path to more and more complex solutions involving email address issues that I HAVE NO ISSUE WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARE IN THE WORLD OTHER THAN ICLOUD!!!!!!

I was having the same problems and I took my MBP the Apple store. After a lot of investigating I found out the reason...

After updating to Yosemite, SOMEHOW the serial number for the mac was lost. You can check this out by going to the Apple Logo in the top left corner > About This Mac > Overview. Under 'Serial Number' it might say 'UNKNOWN'.

If that is the case then you will need to take it to the Apple Store to get it 'Serialised' under Target Disk Mode (Its free).

FYI - I have also had my motherboard changed on in 2010, I'm not too sure if that had something to do with me not having a serial number.

Having the same issue.

Also, the weather and stock widget went disappear today too!

Having the same problem as previous posters. Like, djkwikdkr, my serial number is "unavailable". I have a large desktop Mac Pro which is definitely not portable, and the nearest Apple store is 1 hour away. I sure hope the resolution comes soon....

I too had a missing serial # on my IMac so I took it to the Apple Store today and the error message seems to be gone!

I am having the same problem as the original poster as well as being asked for my username and password the first time I send an email after boot. My Serial number shows up under the apple menu so that is not what is causing my problem. This is so annoying and so far many are suggesting I reset my key chain but that will cause all to be lost. Prior to OS .5 (?) (the last time I did so) there was a way to reset the key chain without losing all your data but that no longer seems to be a possibility based on all I have read. I do believe my keychain is corrupted (just because of the behavior) but I really do not want to loose all my data and have to attempt to regather all those passwords, etc. Both of these problems came with the upgrade toYosemite!

Last Monday (22nd) went into iTunes to download 2 tracks, was asked for Apple ID password, typed in, asked again typed again making sure no mistake, asked again, quickly checked my written records of ID and passwords and typed again - asked again so used forgot password link. When going back onto Macbook to access email link found more than 3 hours had elapsed so next day decided to go into applications and edit new Apple ID and password and received confirmation email and 2nd email for me to confirm. That same day when going on to the computer there was a notice of a security update which I did not recognise due to lack of info as to what the update was about but I received a notice saying this computer cannot connect to iCloud because of a problem with the password for the the Apple ID but this ID and the password are the ID and password I deleted to be replaced by new ones which I received email confirmation for !! My access to iCloud is now blocked and so is my iCloud email address and attempts to get iCloud unblocked using the links do not work - the message keeps coming. I was about to phone the helpline but having read this link on the help pages I am pleased I did not waste my time however I have checked the serial number as suggested as I also dowloaded Yosemite and there is no problem with the serial number it is the original.

This Mac Book Pro bought in April this year has been a pig from the start with emails repeatedley deleted form the trash returning again and again and mail activity showing incoming anything for 50 to 600. When sending one 5 line email activity can show sending 6 mails.

Six trips to the store I bought the unit from in Middlesbrough and 3 trips to Newcastle where I was told the problem was Virgins outdated drivers for ntlworld and virgin email addresses only to find Virgins mail is powered by Google. The problem with this £1700 Macbook Pro is with Apple who think they can knock out operating systems and get it right as they go along not to mention unskilled staff in their appointed retailers and main shops were the staff will tell blatant lies to just get you out. Wish I had gone to PC World and Microsoft.

I have, like all before, the same problem.

A few times a day i get the messages:

This Mac can't connect to iCloud because of a problem with <my email address>

Open iCloud preferences to fix this problem"

Then the mac is not connected to internet etc. If you open the preferences and close them without doing nothing the pc is connected again and everything is working well. Very strange :-( . Under the menu point : Force Quit - you will find then:

System Preferences (not responding)

com.apple.preferences.icloud.remoteservice (not responding).

A friend gave me a possible solution for this problem (on my mac is is only working for a short time):

All iCloud informations are gathered in the following file:

/Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/Preferences/MobileMeAccounts.plist

You could try closing System Preferences entirely, renaming that file temporarily, restarting your Mac and then seeing if System Preferences can then open its iCloud pane.

When Yosemite comes back up again, it will ask you for your iCloud password and it should all work.

You can try this. if it works - fine. if not we have to wait for an apple solution.

In response to EdMartin and all other replies. I'm getting this same popup and I've not even updated to Yosemity. I would love to get rid of it. It is annoying. It started after changing my password for my Apple login. Any ideas how to get rid of it?

Same problem here. I even started a similarly titled thread about this in this same forum but have gotten no replies.

Mine started after getting a new iPhone 6, months after upgrading to yosemite. My macbook pro (late 2011) has a serial number in the about this mac window. Like others, the window only pops up when closing safari, and as far as I can tell all of icloud is actually working correctly.

My guess is it's just a bogus error being thrown by something, and it'll get fixed in the next update.

In reply to all of the above and any others on the problem of "This Mac can't connect to iCloud because of a problem with [email]. Open iCloud preferences to fix this problem." This occurred to me with Yosemite a few times and, since I didn't know what to do after opening iCloud preferences, I did nothing and just ignored the messages as they occurred. But when another occurred today, instead of opening iCloud preferences as instructed in the air message, I went to iCloud web site itself and logged in. Since Keychain presents with two of my AppleID/email monikers, I signed in first with one (which worked fine) but the second one did not. I observed that the number of password "dots" was different for the second than the first. Ah ha. Apple token had not updated that particular one when I had changed my Apple ID password recently. So I logged into that one by typing in new password instead of accepting Apple token password. Problem solved (in this case, anyway). Hope this helps somebody.

There seems to be variations in the problem to this recurring identical message. I can log onto iCloud on my Macbook (using my new Apple ID and password) and my email boxes are available to me. The problem is that going onto my Mail page I find I have 5 warning triangles with exclamation marks in the centre for each box (in, out, trash etc) for the iCloud email account. Clicking onto one of these triangles opens a window that says it cannot connect to this iCloud IMAP account and asks for the user name and password to be verified which sounds easy enough but if I go into account preferences and look at account information some of the boxes (email address - Full Name - Incoming mail server and User name) are all greyed out and with this particular email account there is no listing for a password as there is with my Google and Virgin email accounts. Going into iCloud help / support shows everything is ok with no reported issues.

What I fail to understand is why people who have bought these Apple products are reduced as we are to these self help forums because from the postings things do not get any better by contacting Apple and some report things getting worse. If you you buy are car with a software fault there is a public announcement and product recall eventually but Apple do not even see fit to publicly announce there is a problem which will be rectified ASAP which would go a long way to pacifying customers.

A few days ago I went into my local appointed retailer where I bought the unit from to ask about this problem and I was told they had not had any customer come in with it "but there are always problems with new systems". Abe Lincoln was probably right about some of the people all of the time.

i have the same message and have been trying to sort it on my own,,i think my problem is because i cloud has nominated an old email address to itself and i can't edit the old email address or delete it as it was so old i forgot the password very silly really as i don't really use i cloud, but every time i try to send mail ,up pops iCloud cannot connect to site due to a problem same o same o, have another plan will get back if i sort it

I have had the same problem and MAY have found a fix.

In Finder use the Go to folder and enter the following:

~/library/application support/icloud/

Drag that Accounts folder to your desktop, and Restart your Mac. Once it has restarted go to System Prefs/iCloud and sign in again. Once this is done check back to ~/library/application support/icloud/ and compare the contents of the new Accounts folder with the one on your desktop. If they are different - you may have solved the problem - fingers crossed.

I also get this when closing Safari. I'm not aware of any problem actually connecting to iCloud; my email works and it seems everything is syncing appropriately. But if it's trying to update bookmarks I've added I probably haven't noticed.