there was an error connecting to the apple id server

I am also having this issue. I'm not positive, but I believe it began when I clicked "Upgrade" in Notes app on El Capitan, which warned that by upgrading, only devices with El Caputan would be able to sync to iCloud. My MacBook Pro I'm on is my only device, so I cannot confirm if this issue is related.

Under Network > DNS > I only have one ip: 10.0.0.1

When I looked at Console log I could not find any messages related to iCloud

I don't have Antivirus apps but do have Little Snitch installed and I also use the Hosts file to block certain connections for privacy protection, but none of them are Apple or system-related.

I just reset my iCloud / Apple ID password so I know that isn't the problem.

The console messages should be listed under the application you are trying to connect with.

Just to add to this thread, for me, uninstalling an antivirus worked, but a few weeks later the problem is now back. Thinking I should uninstall HandsOff even though I can completely disable it and it doesn't help... Any other thoughts?

I have been having the same problem opening Graphic Converter purchased through the Apple Store, after installing El Capitan.

I use Little Snitch.

Using Little Snitch I allowed outgoing connections to these processes in this order:

gamed - did not succeed but left it enabled

com.apple.geod.xpc - did not succeed but left it enabled

akd - RESOLVED the issue, graphic converter opened immediately

I have left gamed and com.apple.geod.xpc enabled which may or may not be necessary. Something to play around with in future to see what happens when they are disabled.

thanks, that worked for me too x

Sovled for me too, just disabled Kaspersky and it logged in.

Worked for me as well. Thanks!

Had a similar issue - ended up that I had to confirm my details.

I opened iTunes, then verified details in there, re-entered Credit Card information and it allowed iCloud to carry on working.

Not sure if this will help anyone else, but thought it was worth adding.

Adam

When you are using Avast for sure check your settings. This advice worked for me. Go to Preferences, Web Shield, Settings and after checking "Scan secured connections from browsers only" it started working for me. Hopefully Avast will fix this soon.

I have this same problem but I do not have any anti-virus software installed.

Any other known causes?

Uninstalling Avast did not work. So I thought maybe whatever it blocked is still blocked. I have installed it again and checked settings for Web Shield.

Does that look correct ? Do I need to do something different or how would I get rid of this altogether.

Also here is my console log when I try to login to App Store or iCloud. Maybe this would help : http://pastebin.com/raw/8FTiHQF6

My console logs show the same error and I have not been able to find a solution. Did you figure it out ?

Here is my log snippet:

12/25/15 12:23:00.133 PM com.apple.preferences.icloud.remoteservice[13974] Failed to connect (_signInButton) outlet from (iCloudPref) to (NSButton): missing setter or instance variable

12/25/15 12:23:00.133 PM com.apple.preferences.icloud.remoteservice[13974] Failed to connect (_signInSpinner) outlet from (iCloudPref) to (NSProgressIndicator): missing setter or instance variable

12/25/15 12:23:00.133 PM com.apple.preferences.icloud.remoteservice[13974] Could not connect action, target class iCloudPref does not respond to -signinPressed:

12/25/15 12:23:00.200 PM com.apple.preferences.icloud.remoteservice[13974] Additional Logging , array retured in signedInAccounts is (

"<IAAccount: 0x7ff1f9c82050> -- uid: 'myUID'; loginName: 'myemail'; provider: com.apple.account.icloud; parent: (null)\n\taccount ID: 'myemail' - com.apple.account.icloud - \n\tprovider attrs: {\n IADSIDKey = 'myKey';\n \"com.apple.InternetAccounts.loginName\" = \"myemail\";\n \"com.apple.InternetAccounts.provider\" = \"com.apple.account.icloud\";\n fullName = \"myName\";\n}"

)

12/25/15 12:23:00.218 PM com.apple.preferences.icloud.remoteservice[13974] [AOSAccounts] : [ReportAuthErrorNotification] : AOSTransactionGetError The operation couldn’t be completed. (AOSErrorDomain error 5002.) reason (null)

12/25/15 12:23:00.000 PM kernel[0] hfs: mounted Recovery HD on device disk0s3

12/25/15 12:23:00.416 PM mds[74] (Volume.Normal:2464) volume:0x7fd97b039e00 ********** Bootstrapped Creating a default store:0 SpotLoc:(null) SpotVerLoc:(null) occlude:0 /Volumes/Recovery HD

12/25/15 12:23:00.510 PM fseventsd[58] Logging disabled completely for device:1: /Volumes/Recovery HD

12/25/15 12:23:00.675 PM com.apple.iCloudHelper[13418] AOSKit ERROR: In quota usage request, missing locally cached info (dsid=(null), t=0x0, url='(null)')

12/25/15 12:23:00.676 PM com.apple.preferences.icloud.remoteservice[13974] [AOSAccounts] : [operator()] : Failed to retrieve Quota info

12/25/15 12:23:00.765 PM com.apple.preferences.icloud.remoteservice[13974] [AOSAccounts] : [ReportAuthErrorNotification] : AOSTransactionGetError The operation couldn’t be completed. (AOSErrorDomain error 5002.) reason (null)

12/25/15 12:23:00.842 PM appleeventsd[62] SecTaskLoadEntitlements failed error=3

12/25/15 12:23:00.845 PM mdworker[13960] (ImportBailout.Error:1325) Asked to exit for Diskarb

12/25/15 12:23:00.844 PM mdworker[13958] (ImportBailout.Error:1325) Asked to exit for Diskarb

12/25/15 12:23:00.852 PM mdworker[13957] (ImportBailout.Error:1325) Asked to exit for Diskarb

12/25/15 12:23:00.858 PM mdworker[13959] (ImportBailout.Error:1325) Asked to exit for Diskarb

Here is the complete log : http://pastebin.com/raw/8FTiHQF6

Turning off Kaspersky solved the problem for me, too. Thanks.

Which defeats the object of having Kaspersky in the first place! I agree that turning the Protection off allows things to work but I have kicked this one up to Kaspersky to resolve. If I knew what to allow through I could enter this in the Preferences Section of Kaspersky. Either a File, a Folder or an IP address.

I had the same issue. After reading your tip, I logged into my iTunes account. I verified my information. Now I am able to turn on home sharing and everything. Can connect to the apple servers! I had forgot to update them with a new credit card. 🙂

Further to my last post, Kaspersky have been very helpful and are waiting for the error to re-occur on my machine but all programs are up to date so nothing to try. I did a full uninstall and reinstall at their request and sent them a log of what has been happening prior to this. If anyone out there still has this problem and has Kaspersky installed please get in touch with them so that we can resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Cheers.

Dave