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I have gmail on my MacBook Pro, pop-ups saying "keychain 'login' can't be found.

I have gmail on my MacBook Pro in OSX 10.11.6. For years I have forwarded the Talktalk emails and Verizon (now aol) emails to Gmail. All worked fine till 10 days ago when Google for the first time kept asking for password and the pop-ups that keep saying "keychain 'login' can't be found. ...What happened? ...Was it changes that Google made? ...Or was I hacked? I have called Talktalk tech, and twice an Apple tech but the computer is acting more and more weired. And I cannot see my emails on my laptop in AppleMail. If I repeat and keep fiddling I sometimes however can email out from my laptop with Gmail.

I cannot update the MAC operating system as I have almost 1000 GBs of info on my laptop as well as many 3rd party applications that I would have to buy all over again. ...

1/How do I rectify the keychain?

2/How do I again get the emails onto my laptop?

I am getting sick over this.

Plaease advise me.

Thanks,

Primavera


[Re-Titled by Moderator]


Posted on Apr 16, 2021 10:44 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 17, 2021 2:06 PM

The Keychain password may be reset or made a new.

Changes to the user account ~ makes older ones fail.


You may actually need to be sure your Mac has Backup

(time machine on external USB HDD) and reinstall macOS

maybe from macOS Recovery. I'd answered other question

and then saw underlying issue is contributory.


• About macOS Recovery on Intel-based Mac computers - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314


Restore from Time Machine: Restore your files from a Time Machine backup.

Reinstall macOS: Download and reinstall the Mac operating system.

Disk Utility: Use Disk Utility to repair your disk or erase your disk or other storage device.


[About 'the last thing you could' try, is make &

use a bootable installer to reinstall macOS.]


^ not the first thing.


• If you forgot your Mac login password - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202860


• Forgot (admin user) Password - Apple Community (reply)

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252670909?answerId=255029985022#255029985022


• If your Mac keeps asking for the keychain password - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201609


• Keychain Access User Guide (Table of Contents) - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/guide/keychain-access/toc


• How to Create a New Keychain on Mac | osxdaily

https://osxdaily.com/2020/07/25/how-to-create-a-new-keychain-on-mac/


Similar questions

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 17, 2021 2:06 PM in response to Prima

The Keychain password may be reset or made a new.

Changes to the user account ~ makes older ones fail.


You may actually need to be sure your Mac has Backup

(time machine on external USB HDD) and reinstall macOS

maybe from macOS Recovery. I'd answered other question

and then saw underlying issue is contributory.


• About macOS Recovery on Intel-based Mac computers - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314


Restore from Time Machine: Restore your files from a Time Machine backup.

Reinstall macOS: Download and reinstall the Mac operating system.

Disk Utility: Use Disk Utility to repair your disk or erase your disk or other storage device.


[About 'the last thing you could' try, is make &

use a bootable installer to reinstall macOS.]


^ not the first thing.


• If you forgot your Mac login password - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202860


• Forgot (admin user) Password - Apple Community (reply)

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252670909?answerId=255029985022#255029985022


• If your Mac keeps asking for the keychain password - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201609


• Keychain Access User Guide (Table of Contents) - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/guide/keychain-access/toc


• How to Create a New Keychain on Mac | osxdaily

https://osxdaily.com/2020/07/25/how-to-create-a-new-keychain-on-mac/


Apr 18, 2021 1:27 PM in response to Prima

Firstly you really need to make several good backups, these take time.


These use external USB hard drives attached to Mac by wire, and run

automatically each hour; should be 4TB capacity. These are lower end

insomuch as these need not be super-fast SSD.


The USB connected hard drive enclosures stay connected to Mac. Some

of my older desktop Macs, or portable Macs, get attached to backups

at least once a month, this takes more time to catch-up & backup.


My under-utilized Macs also have their own USB-powered backup drives.

[And takes hours to make first-time "Time Machine" backups from scratch.]


Articles on "how to" are available as instructions on Apple support site.

I've uploaded their web page links a few times each year, to this site.


Examples from other sources include this third party site's content:


• Easy Redundant Mac Backups with Time Machine and Multiple Drives | osxdaily

https://osxdaily.com/2013/08/09/time-machine-multiple-drives-mac/


• How To Setup and Use macOS and OS X Time Machine [Guide] - AppleToolBox

https://appletoolbox.com/how-to-setup-and-use-osx-time-machine-guide/


• Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250


(others are saved in bookmarks/browser in mac mini i7)

..before this site logs-out automatically, time to post..


This is job-one. Backups you can restore any content you want.

So when internal drives fail, you could rebuild a system offline.

Certain content, saved, would need their product keys saved too.


Apr 21, 2021 3:54 AM in response to Prima

The idea of dragging items to make backup copies

may work OK for simple documents; Time Machine

is already in the macOS & can backup well enough.


El Capitan is a little outdated, browser options, few

and no security update in awhile; yet depending on

what macOS MacBook Pro has; 10.11.6 is old.


Instructions for Time Machine are covered in earlier post.


You need to have at least one 2TB or 4TB USB backup

drive, one that simply is port-powered from USB port

on the Mac. May take 3-6 hours to save first backup.


• How to get old versions of mac OS - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683


The versions in above linked page, are in two sections.


First shows later macOS (newest download installers)

and Second tells of older macOS, uses different path

to upgrade later macOS. Mojave 10.14.6 is last macOS

that can use 32-bit & 64-bit s/w. If upgraded no further

there shouldn't be an issue with 'software/drivers'.


(Sometimes outdated systems need a newer version

before going to latest one the hardware could support,)


As far as email and other stuff, at least two good separate

backups, Time Machine and clones; can be helpful. Those

loose-ends would normally be saved with the backups.


For other levels of complexity, external drives with

their own power supply, can be used to make Clones

[Which also may be useful to run the Mac externally.]


Low-cost clone utilities such as 'Carbon Copy Cloner'

(bombich) or 'Super Duper' (shirtpocket) may be OK.


Took awhile to get back to this thread. Been busy

now, snow's starting to melt and temps going up.

And other details are piling up to keep me busy..!


Apr 18, 2021 7:46 AM in response to K Shaffer

Thankyou for your very extensive reply. To be honest I am petrified of doing any of he suggestions as I have so many folders and emails on my 1000GB hard drive on my MacBook Pro that I am terrified of losing. I have never really understood how to save emails and their attchments so that I can easily go back in time and reference them when needed. Also I have other softwres like Adobe, and Microspft and Roxie etc that if I lose I cannont regain, as all on ny laptop is old. ... I am not sure that I can even get OS X10.11.6 again from Mac to re-install my operating system. -- I was told by mac techs in New York that I shouldn't update past El Capitan on my old 2012 laptop. Would it help to take the mac into a London apple store. I don't think it is a hardware problem. Or should I call phone support a third time to guide me through some of the steps suggested?

Thanks again for your help.

Prima


Apr 19, 2021 4:26 PM in response to K Shaffer

Is backing up in Time machine reliable, especially with many emails? Or am I better off dragging all applications, and docs and photos etc etc to another hard drive? I have Time Machine but not sure how to use it.

Do I then erase all on my laptop? Will it allow me to do that with the kepchain problem?


When I updated to El Capitan before, the iMovie no longer functioned. It was an apple genius in the New York Soho store who managed to get an inbetween variation of iMovie.in 10.1.6 that worked in El Capitan, but wasn't on the Apple website, and was almost as good as the older one I had before. .


Is the OS X El Capitan (10.11.6) even online for me to download now? This is important.


Best,

Prima

I have gmail on my MacBook Pro, pop-ups saying "keychain 'login' can't be found.

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