Unable to sign in to iTunes - endless loop of death!

Question

Unable to sign in to iTunes - endless loop of death!

When asked to sign in to iTunes on iMac, I get stuck in an endless loop of death... Force Quit is my only out after several hours.

Have made no recent changes to Apple ID or password, and can still successfully sign in on other devices such as old Dinosaur iPod Touch.

Not sure if it's related (although common sense suggests it could be), but recently updated iMac to OS X El Capitan.

Any help greatly appreciated with thanks...

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Jan 15, 2016 1:23 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 15, 2016 7:38 AM in response to unclespudhead

Are you able to go to System Preferences iCloud pane and sign in with your Apple ID there? If you open iBooks and Mac App Store, are you able to sign in using your Apple ID in those apps?

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Answer 2

Jan 15, 2016 8:57 AM in response to unclespudhead

The thing that worked for me was

Quit iTunes and then restart iTunes .

Store » Authorise this Computer » Sign in .... It may work.

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Answer 3

Jan 15, 2016 2:05 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Thanks for the response Kenichi Watanabe but no cigar I'm afraid!

The bigger problem appears to be that I'm unable to sign in to iCloud, or anything else requiring my Apple ID and Password (except of course this forum, hence confirming that my ID and password is in fact valid and correct!)

Endless loop experienced as soon as I attempt to sign in to iCloud. Any other thoughts?

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Answer 4

Jan 15, 2016 2:07 PM in response to welshcatholic

Hi welshcatholic,

See my above response to Kenichi Watanabe - to authorize this computer I need to enter my Apple ID and password.... same endless loop occurs.

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Answer 5

Jan 15, 2016 4:40 PM in response to unclespudhead

I suggested trying some other Apple ID logins to see if the problem was with iTunes only, or a more general problem. Since it's more general, you should contact the "official" Apple ID customer support

https://www.apple.com/support/appleid/

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Answer 6

Jan 15, 2016 5:25 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

I'm certain it's not an Apple ID issue - as I can successfully log into my Apple Account on another device (e.g. iPod) - but not able to do the same on the iMac. Hence I'm convinced is an issue with the configuration/settings of the iMac itself, and as indicated in my original post, it's only seemed to be the case since updating to OS X El Capitan.

??

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Answer 7

Jan 15, 2016 5:27 PM in response to unclespudhead

When you turn your iMac on, do you login using your iCloud password?

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Answer 8

Jan 15, 2016 5:35 PM in response to unclespudhead

As a test, create a new user account, in System Preferences Users & Groups pane. For this test, you should make the new "Test User" account an Admin (not Standard) user. Log out of your usual user account and log in to the new user account (do not use Fast User Switching). Set it up with your Apple ID and run iTunes (you are using a brand new iTunes library database file). Sign in using your Apple ID, to see if it works.

This is to narrow down the cause. If you don't have this problem in the new user account, the cause is in your usual user account (such as user-level settings or your current iTunes library). If the problem does recur in the new user account, the problem is at the system level (such as system-level settings or application issue).

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Answer 9

Jan 15, 2016 5:40 PM in response to welshcatholic

No welchcatholic - haven't ever really used iCloud (so perhaps that's the root of the issue?)

Have only used exchange server up to this point, and updating to El Capitan was the first update installed for perhaps 3-4 years in this machine. Was happily rolling along on the premise that it wasn't broken, so it didn't need fixing. I finally caved to the pressure and upgraded, and now experiencing the problem.

It's perhaps worth noting that after updating I chose to skip the step relating to iCloud as I'd never had a cause to use it in the past. With that said, I've never had any trouble signing into my Apple ID without iCloud previously, so presumed status quo would remain??

Thanks for your responses....

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