HT204187: If Mail on your Mac keeps asking for your password

Learn about If Mail on your Mac keeps asking for your password
pxc4566
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Cannot sign in to AOL email after upgrading to El Capitan OS

After upgrading my Macbook Air (early 2014) OS to El Capitan version 10.11 I am unable to sign in to my AOL email account.  I keep getting a response that the server cannot verify my account sign on or password.  Have checked my password multiple times to make sure it is correct.  There is no problem using the password when I sign in to AOL Mail through the AOL website on Safari.  My mail app on the iPhone is working fine with the sign on and password.  Suspect this is a problem with El Capitan and AOL.  I also have email accounts for gmail and yahoo, and they are working fine in Mail, just AOL is having the problem.  Any idea how to resolve this?

MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014), OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 20, 2015 6:41 AM

by pinkstones,Solvedanswer
pinkstones pinkstones
Level 5 (4,209 points)
Safari
A:

Have you tried deleting the AOL account in System Preferences --> Internet Accounts and then re-adding it?

Posted on Oct 20, 2015 6:50 AM

Close
pxc4566

Q: Cannot sign in to AOL email after upgrading to El Capitan OS

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 of 3 last Next

  • by pinkstones,Solvedanswer

    pinkstones pinkstones Oct 20, 2015 6:50 AM in response to pxc4566
    Level 5 (4,209 points)
    Safari
    Oct 20, 2015 6:50 AM in response to pxc4566

    Have you tried deleting the AOL account in System Preferences --> Internet Accounts and then re-adding it?

  • by Darren Oh,

    Darren Oh Darren Oh Oct 20, 2015 7:20 AM in response to pxc4566
    Level 1 (20 points)
    iWork
    Oct 20, 2015 7:20 AM in response to pxc4566

    I had the same problem yesterday, more than a week after upgrading to El Capitan. Turning off “Automatically detect and maintain account settings” on the Advanced tab in Mail preferences for the AOL account fixed it for me. It continued to work when I turned automatic detection back on.

  • by RDI,Helpful

    RDI RDI Oct 20, 2015 7:46 AM in response to Darren Oh
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 7:46 AM in response to Darren Oh

    I've been having the same problem.  I tried changing all of the port settings, and other options that I could, even allow insecure access.  No joy.  Deleted the account, would not let me recreate it.  Deleted my Internet account from System settings, in hopes that I could just re-add it, and resolve the issue.  Again No Joy.  Now it will not even let me add an AOL account under System Preferences AOL Accounts.  I keep getting the error "Unable to verify account name or password".  I can log into webmail just fine.

     

    I've run disk first aid (which is far less useful until El Capitan), and verified and repaired all permissions.

     

    Anyone have any other suggestions?

     

    Thanks.

  • by dealmaker,Helpful

    dealmaker dealmaker Oct 20, 2015 8:16 AM in response to pxc4566
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 8:16 AM in response to pxc4566

    I've got exactly the same problem.

     

    I had it a week ago and had to delete the entire AOL account and then add it back on - it took days to rebuild the entire Mail account because of m slow 2Mbps connection.

     

    I came in tonight and its done the exact same thing!!! I am sick of it - I don't know if its an El Capitan problem or an AOL one - but it seems to be working still on my iPhone and iPad as well as another computer??

     

    I really didn't want to have to delete the account again! Arghhhhhhh!

  • by Richard Gilpin,

    Richard Gilpin Richard Gilpin Oct 20, 2015 8:44 AM in response to pxc4566
    Level 2 (189 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 20, 2015 8:44 AM in response to pxc4566

    I do not understand the question.   I sign on to AOL Mail through the AOL website using Safari.   What other way is there to access AOL Mail?

     

    I ask, because I am still on Yosemite and deciding whether to go to El Capitan.

  • by dealmaker,Helpful

    dealmaker dealmaker Oct 20, 2015 9:00 AM in response to pxc4566
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 9:00 AM in response to pxc4566

    OK so I think I found a solution that worked for me.

     

    Open Mail. Go to the "Mail" heading at the top of the screen - and on the drop down menu select "preferences"

     

    Now select the AOL account in the left box - and this will highlight the "Account Information" box.

     

    Now on the page there is a box for "password" - put the correct password in there - save it.

     

    Then close mail - and re-open it.

     

    This worked for me just now.

  • by pxc4566,

    pxc4566 pxc4566 Oct 20, 2015 9:06 AM in response to dealmaker
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 9:06 AM in response to dealmaker

    This did not work for me.  Finally deleted the AOL mail account and then recreated it.  Seems to be working for now.

  • by pxc4566,

    pxc4566 pxc4566 Oct 20, 2015 9:15 AM in response to Richard Gilpin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 9:15 AM in response to Richard Gilpin

    The OS has a feature in it that will allow you to access all of your email accounts without going into Safari.  Go to System Preferences and select Internet Accounts, you will then see a box that has a list of your accounts on the left side, and a window on the right side that displays the available mail, contacts, calendar, and messages apps that it can support.  Scroll down that list until you see AOL., click it on and you will be able to enter your aol email address and password.  Once that is done you will be able to open the Mail app (the postage stamp icon at the bottom of your screen) and your AOL mail should be there. You can do the same thing for other mail accounts you may have (gmail, yahoo, etc) and then all of those will be accessible from this app.  You will no longer need to go through Safari (or another web browser) to access the AOL.com site then sign in to your AOL mail account from there.  This is a much simpler process fro getting mail.

  • by RDI,

    RDI RDI Oct 20, 2015 9:15 AM in response to pxc4566
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 9:15 AM in response to pxc4566

    I am unable to re-create the account.  Still get the unable to verify, but I am currently logged into AOL webmail with the same information.  Anyone from Apple going to weigh in on this?

  • by pxc4566,

    pxc4566 pxc4566 Oct 20, 2015 9:19 AM in response to Darren Oh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 9:19 AM in response to Darren Oh

    Tried this, but no luck.  I finally took pinkstones advice and deleted the AOL account.  After I re-created the account my password worked and I am now getting mail.  Hope it continues to work.  Thanks for your response.

  • by Ishka88,

    Ishka88 Ishka88 Oct 20, 2015 9:34 AM in response to dealmaker
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 9:34 AM in response to dealmaker

    It worked perfectly, thanks

  • by RDI,

    RDI RDI Oct 20, 2015 9:57 AM in response to RDI
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 9:57 AM in response to RDI

    I was just able to recreate my account using my OLD password.  The one I changed with the AOL server yesterday.  Something is seriously wrong with apply mail, and dealing with AOL.

  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Oct 20, 2015 10:10 AM in response to dealmaker
    Level 6 (17,623 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 10:10 AM in response to dealmaker

    dealmaker wrote:

     

    OK so I think I found a solution that worked for me.

     

    Open Mail. Go to the "Mail" heading at the top of the screen - and on the drop down menu select "preferences"

     

    Now select the AOL account in the left box - and this will highlight the "Account Information" box.

     

    Now on the page there is a box for "password" - put the correct password in there - save it.

     

    Then close mail - and re-open it.

     

    This worked for me just now.

    That worked for me, except that I did not have to quit & reopen Mail.app. However, at the same time I started having problems with AOL, all my "smart mailboxes" started coming up empty -- even one that just is set to show all unread messages. There are more than a dozen unread messages in the AOL mailbox, & selecting that (now) shows them as unread, so whatever is going on has somehow affected smart mailboxes too.

     

    Very curious.

  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Oct 20, 2015 1:42 PM in response to R C-R
    Level 6 (17,623 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 1:42 PM in response to R C-R

    I wrote:

    However, at the same time I started having problems with AOL, all my "smart mailboxes" started coming up empty -- even one that just is set to show all unread messages. There are more than a dozen unread messages in the AOL mailbox, & selecting that (now) shows them as unread, so whatever is going on has somehow affected smart mailboxes too.

     

    Very curious.

    UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Applecare support about this. The support agent had me try several things to fix this & none of them worked until he suggested restarting in Recovery mode (with the option & R keys held down), selecting Disk Utility from the menu, & running "First Aid" on the startup volume. I did that, restarted normally, launched Mail.app, & to my amazement the items in my smart folders started reappearing. It took about ten minutes for all the items to appear, but it worked.

Page 1 of 3 last Next