What Is Causing The "error Signing Into Apple Server" On Only One Account?

[TuckerdogAVL]

So, here's the mystery. I called Apple Support and we went through a bunch of testing. Discovered I can sign into my apple ID using either of my two other accounts, including one we set up called "New Test" this afternoon. I get in, no problem. But when I try to sign into anything OTHER than support ie iTunes, or App Store, I get "There is an error signing into the Apple Server."

No parental controls are on. There doesn't seem to be any issue regarding "Li'l Snitch" that lets me know when there is incoming/outgoing connections as this is cross platform and cross users.

So, any idea? I can actually LOG ON to another user, while the one that doesn't work is still logged in, and download, see purchases, see apps, etc. This is the "main" user I use.

PS And the account that doesn't work is the ADMIN. The other two were standard users. I reset one of the Standard USERS as ADMIN and it still works. But the original ADMIN doesn't.

I reset the password and that works fine on the two Standard Users. I still get the "There is an error".

And, I cannot use enter password for "icloud" now for the MacMini. I am able to enter the password on the iPad for the iCloud. But, so much for syncing calendars or contacts. Very strange behavior. I've spent the better part of the day on this. Sigh.

It's got to be something really simple we are not seeing.

Any suggestions?

 

[Cheryl]

I had this problem and I only have one user on the computer and one Apple ID. What I did:
Quit Mail
sign out/log out from iTunes
sign out/log out from App store
Go to System Preferences>iCloud and sign out

Restart the computer
Sign in to iCloud via the web. This is just to make sure your password works. Sign out
Now go to System Preferences>iCloud and sign in
Next is App Store and iTunes - sign in
Now start up Mail.

You shouldn’t get those errors now.

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

I had this problem and I only have one user on the computer and one Apple ID. What I did:
Quit Mail
sign out/log out from iTunes
sign out/log out from App store
Go to System Preferences>iCloud and sign out

Restart the computer
Sign in to iCloud via the web. This is just to make sure your password works. Sign out
Now go to System Preferences>iCloud and sign in
Next is App Store and iTunes - sign in
Now start up Mail.

You shouldn’t get those errors now.

Thanks, Cheryl, but the only step I'm not sure of is the "Sign into iCloud via the web." When I "signed out" from iCloud in System Preferences I lost the contacts and calendar (I know I can get them back when it works) and I get the "can't sign in" message - but that was before doing all these other steps.

G

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

I had this problem and I only have one user on the computer and one Apple ID. What I did:
Quit Mail
sign out/log out from iTunes
sign out/log out from App store
Go to System Preferences>iCloud and sign out
Restart the computer
Sign in to iCloud via the web. This is just to make sure your password works. Sign out
Now go to System Preferences>iCloud and sign in

Can’t get pass here (see attachment. That's at system preferences)
Next is App Store and iTunes - sign in
This isn’t a drop down, it’s just in red.(There is an error signing into Apple etc)
Now start up Mail.
You shouldn’t get those errors now.

I actually created a new AppleID, which of course, led to lots of verification, setup, and the like... and it works fine on the two other user accounts. Not the main admin.
I then saw it change my apple icon on the mail, and now I can't get the old icon back. And I can't figure out where that is pulled from anyway and that's not something I can google.
If I google "where are mail addresses/icons/mail icons get pulled from/come from/are grabbed from" I get 250000 hits on how to buy mail icons.

So, I went back to the original AppleID (and the icon is still the one that was changed), I don't think my mail contacts are synced, nor the calendars as iCloud is not on the computer at this time.

Oh, I also turned off the iPAD just to make sure that wasn't an issue. What I did do yesterday was verify through the iPad, backwards to the MacMini to get the iCloud "back" so to speak, but I still cannot sign in to iCloud on the MacMini from System preferences.

And I don't know if this matters, but I do not wish to use iCloud Drive yet. Thanks for your help but I'm still bewildered. Not that big a whoop other than now not being able to sign into the iCloud (or maybe I am through the iPad?) because I'd like the contacts, calendars. The App store I can deal with (and I am able to download updates, so go figure).

 

[Cheryl]

As I recall, when I had this problem it took me several attempts to get it to work.

Go to your home folder>Library> Preferences

Trash the com.apple.icloud.plist files.
Scroll down the list and if you find any MobileMe files, trash them.

In the same Preference folder look in the By Host folder. Again any Mobile Me files should be trashed.
If you don’t have these files, no worries. Some people do, some don’t. I had old files from Mobile Me days that may or may not have caused the problem.

Now restart the computer, then empty the trash. Now go to System Preferences>iCloud.
You do not need to use the Drive. I don’t. In fact I don’t back up to the cloud since I have my own external drive.

What I did notice is that Apple - in their great ideas - decided that you should have all your emails via IMAP (rather than POP) so that you can share them with all your devices. That was what caused my problems. I just made my original email with iCloud inactive - then created a new Mail account (using my same ol’ email ) and let Mail set it up as IMAP. Holy cow - everything went smooth afterwards. I kept the old account in Mail because if I deleted it, all my old emails would disappear. It can be inactive and stay put.

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

I'll give it a try.

These are the only two files I'm seeing in Library/Preferences:
com.apple.icloud.fmfd.notbackedup.plist
com.apple.icloud.fmfd.plist

nothing that is just com.apple.icloud.plist. Do I trash those?

Wouldn't have MobileMe but I'll look for them (never set anything like that up).
PS I have to Libaries, by the way, is that correct?
one is /Library/~ and the other is Users/[Homename]/Library/~
the com.* above are in the first Library/Preferences, nothing with icloud in the User/Name/Library

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

PS I just put an * next to the com.apple.icloud and com.apple.iApp ie *com.apple.icloud.fmfd.plist. Would that work to test? Or, would it actually need to be deleted. Because it didn't work. (Meaning still couldn't sign in to iCloud or AppStore with USER 1. (And no problem signing in with USER 2). I've also checked parental controls on iTunes, the computer, in the Firewall... this is a head scratcher.

PS I just was reading about the big outage a while back re: Apple and AppStore, iCloud and I think it may have happened then. And, one of the posts mentioned FACETIME. That does not work either (but does on USER 2) if that has anything to do with anything.

 

[Cheryl]

You need to delete the preference files. When you restart the computer a new file will be generated. You can safely empty the trash.

Facetime and iMessage are connected to your Apple email/Apple ID.

Are you able to use the troubled ID to log into Apple’s community site? https://discussions.apple.com/welcome

In searching for answers for you, it seems you are not alone. But what I have been finding is 2 - 3 years old.

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

Yes, oddly enough, I can sign in from that USER into support. But nothing else. It seems it's something that is being blocked specifically for that USER. Something somewhere. I have "Li'l Snitch" on the computer (that shows incoming/outgoing connections) and I turned it off (and also ran in Safe Mode) to see if that was causing an issue. And that didn't seem do help either. There is a setting in the Li'l Snitch under "All Access" that shows a file that must be available "in order to use iCloud services" and it is on/green, but it is under the category "Me" not "System" and apparently no way to change that. But, as I say, I also turned off the Li'l Snitch and ran in Safe mode and it didn't matter (and the other USERS are able to access icloud, apps and so forth).

So, just putting an asterisk (*) next to the files isn't good enough? (For future ref). And those plist files I found, the only ones that referred to the iCloud, are they the same ones you refer to? (Slightly different with the fmfd). I'll go ahead and delete them, just clarifying; and, are there any others you can think of to delete that won't effect the computer?

 

[Cheryl]

Yes, go ahead and delete them. Any plist file that you trash will force the app to regenerate a fresh file when you start up the app or in this case, sign in.

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

Will do. Got to find them again.

Oh, is it normal to have two libraries? One under USERS/Computer/Library and the other just Library/ ?

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

I had great hope as there was a popup that was called setup apple something which I allowed (any connection/forever" and another that had the word "apple" in it... so I thought, yes! this will be it this time.

 

[Cheryl]

Yes, the library in users is your personal library. The other one is the library for the system.

 

[DeltaMac]

Just thought I'd add that you only mentioned two libraries.
You have a minimum of three Library folders on any Mac.
One in your user folder. One at the root of your drive, and the third in the System folder.
You would have more Library folders, if you have more than one user set up on your system.

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

Just thought I'd mention that you only mentioned two libraries.
You have a minimum of three Library folders on any Mac.
One in your user folder. One at the root of your drive, and the third in the System folder.
You would have more Library folders, if you have more than one user set up on your system.

Hmmmm.... so could there be plist preference files to delete in the third library? Where would I find it.
I have the other two on my sidebar that I placed there myself.

How do I "see" the Library for other users? (There is only one other USER and it's also an ADMIN).

I'm using "Easy Find" to find com.apple... plist and I have searched the Library and HD and strangely nothing is showing up.

 

[DeltaMac]

No, that /System/Library doesn't keep settings that would be useful in your quest.

As your question seems to be related to only one user, then that's the best place to look for a possible fix, in ~/Library/Preferences

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

Thanks!

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

Is there something I could restore from Time Machine that might make a difference? Obviously, I don't want to do a full restore if I don't have to, since I have docs that I have worked on ... and have no idea where I would go to restore (from what date). Guess I could attempt to restore El Capitan. (Don't want to upgrade to Sierra yet until I know some of my old hardware (like a 2002 SONY Camcorder I have to connect using firewire in order to transfer old Tapes) still will work. Otherwise, I'd move onto Sierra, though I would hate to do that, and STILL have this issue. Ugh.

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

Is this a piece of critical information I haven't shared:
The USER were this doesn't work is the HOME USER ... I was just looking at "how to transfer from one user to another and I didn't "see" my jamesgang (so named) user. The only USER is GaryJ2016, the one that does work. So, I clicked on the little house and that is the USER that won't let me access. IS there anything I could copy from the one that DOES work to the one that doesn't?

 

[DeltaMac]

Now I'm getting confused. You seem to use USER account, and AppleID account interchangeably.

Take me through a normal boot, after you have turned your Mac OFF.
Do you get a login window, where you type your password BEFORE you see your desktop?
How many other accounts (users) do you have available on the login window?
Or, do you have an automatic login, which goes straight to your desktop without entering a password?

Note that none of your USER accounts are necessarily related to your AppleID account.
You can use the same AppleID account on every USER account on your Mac (if you want to do that)
You COULD use multiple AppleID accounts on any USER account on your system - although I would not recommend doing THAT, unless you would have a really good reason (really gets confusing to keep up with multiple AppleID accounts)
So, in your case - I want to find out what works, and what does not.

If you are logged in to your normal USER account, Launch the App Store.
View your AppleID account under the Store menu. (That's your AppleID account) Can you view that account successfully?
Quit the App Store.
Now, log out of your USER account. Log in to another USER account. Doesn't matter which one, just one that you believe works OK.
NOW, launch the App Store again. What is the AppleID account name listed under the Store menu? Should be the same AppleID account that you just tried to use in your main USER account (Is that correct?) And, can you View that account, too?
Let me know which USER account lets you view your AppleID info, and which USER does not let you.