Hi Barb Lots of good suggestions already - just a couple more points/items to check:
First-off, the instructions below are as on my Snow Leopard - since you are running an older system, things may not be exactly the same - but the same principles apply. In the "Keychain Access" application, under the main "Keychain Access" menu, you will find the "preferences' item - open the preferences and: - Under the "First Aid" tab, which boxes are ticked (for me, all four boxes are ticked) - Under the "General" tab, there is a "Reset My Default Keychain" button which "Reverts to factory defaults and creates a new empty "login" keychain. Your current default keychain will be moved aside, but not deleted." In essence, this is similar to Peter's suggestion to delete the keychain and let OSX create a new one but since the old one is not actually deleted, you may be able to later retrieve information from it if you want/need. Before trying that, however, you may just want to see if there is a repairable keychain problem: In the "Keychain Access" application, under the main "Keychain Access" menu, there is a command "Keychain First Aid" which gives you the option to verify and/or repair the keychain(s). The "Keychain First Aid" window which opens up asks for User Name and Password but should open up with the user name you are logged-in with filled in and you should not need to enter the password, since you are already logged-in (well, that's what I find - assuming your preferences are set like mine). Set to "verify", press "start" and see what it reports - if all is well the dialogue should conclude "No problems found Verification completed" if a problem is found try "Repair" If anything is found, let us know the result. I'm not really clear from your posts whether you have just the one user account that is the admin account (which you are having the problems with) or if there is an admin account that you don't have the password to and your user account that doesn't have admin privileges. > > They gave me a new username/password (both the same) when I got it, but > that one doesn't work either!!! > Is this the only account on the computer and, if not, does it have admin privileges: Open system preferences, go to the "Accounts" pane and see what accounts are listed - eg for me, at the top it shows under "My Account" the account "Neil Houghton" (that I am currently logged in under) with "Admin" listed below, then under "Other Accounts" it lists some other user accounts and "Guest Account" What is your set-up - in particular, is there another admin account rather than your log-in account? So, to summarise: - Do you just have the single user admin account. - What are your keychain preference settings (in particular, is your log-in keychain the default and is it set to be kept unlocked while you are logged-in) - Have you tried verifying and, if necessary, repairing your keychain. - You can always hit the "Reset My Default Keychain" button and start from scratch. Hope that helps. Cheers Neil -- Neil R. Houghton Albany, Western Australia Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 Email: n...@possumology.com on 23/3/10 11:32 PM, Barb Zahari at buzz...@westnet.com.au wrote: > > Hi Daniel > > Thanks for help! > > > On 23/03/2010, at 10:51 PM, Daniel Kerr wrote: >> Hi Barb >> >> Also, when it comes up with the password screen have you tried either >> a) >> just leaving it blank and clicking OK > > Yep tried that, but it annoyingly keeps coming back - at least it seems > to be letting me use Safari now, but it seems a bit flaky (kept > quitting at random moments) so I've downloaded Camino for OS10.3.9 & > using that. > >> or b) entering "password" as the >> password (Without "") > > Didn't try that obvious one! Tried a few "school related" words but no > go! > >> or c) putting in the same password as the username. Eg >> if the username is Admin then use admin or Admin as the password. >> Sometimes on clean installs the "easy" option is entered. > > They gave me a new username/password (both the same) when I got it, but > that one doesn't work either!!! > >> Also, with your eMac, I'd just be a bit weary of getting it >> "repaired". As >> the Ethernet port is normally on the logicboard for most models, they >> are >> very very expensive and worth well and truly more then the machine is >> worth!! I'd try a PRAM zap to reset it then see if it works, and if >> that >> doesn't it'd make a call to a service centre and a) see what a rough >> cost is >> and b) how much they charge to even just look at it. (Again, the >> service >> charge may be worth more then repairing the machine). > > Oh well .. it's already in to be looked at .. will see what they say - > can't bear this imac for too long after a couple of years on the emac! > And where would I get another emac for that price? (I don't do ebay.) > He did suggest that if it is a dead ethernet port, I could probably > circumvent it by using a USB-to-ethernet cable instead. > > I was able to get into Mail, get rid of their PLC set up & set up my > own Westnet details (copying from the emac ), & it's now happily > downloading my email. > >> Sorry, would have posted earlier as well, have spent most of the day >> since >> 5pm last night without power (til late afternoon today) and still >> working >> through yesterday's and last nights work. Thanks storm,... :o) >> >> Hope something there helps. >> >> Kind Regards >> Daniel > > Bad luck about the power failure! > My friend's in Southern River & she had no power from yesterday into > today as well - looks like it might have been worse south of the river. > Didn't lose power round here, but it was pretty LOUD (I have a tin > roof!). > Actually it's one of the rare occasions we DIDN'T lose power - usually > happens here every time we have rain after dry weather. > > Cheers . BarbZ > >> On 23/3/10 10:43 PM, "Barb Zahari" <buzz...@westnet.com.au> wrote: >> >>> >>> Thanks muchly Peter! 8-D >>> Will try that as a quick fix. >>> >>> Cheers .. BarbZ >>> >>> >>> On 23/03/2010, at 10:32 PM, Peter Hinchliffe wrote: >>>> I hope I'm not too late with this, but the quick way to fix the >>>> keychain issue is to navigate to ~/Library/Keychains and delete the >>>> file called "login.keychain". The next time it's needed, Mac OS X >>>> will >>>> stop and ask you to confirm that you want to add your current >>>> password >>>> to the keychain. Just say yes and it will create a new version of >>>> login.keychain. >>>> >>>> (In case you're not sure, and for the benefit of others who may not >>>> know, the "~" character in the path above stands for "Home", so >>>> you're >>>> looking for the Library folder in your Home folder) >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- >>> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> >>> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> >>> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au> >>> >> >> --- >> Daniel Kerr >> MacWizardry >> >> Phone: 0414 795 960 >> Email: <daniel @ macwizardry . com . au> >> Web: <http://www.macwizardry.com.au> >> >> >> **For everything Macintosh** >> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>
