SOLVED Keychain problems

[EdSinger]

Help! I’m in the dog house! My wife’s iMac, late 2013, OSX 10.9.5, demanded an admin password which has probably not been used since 2014 and we have no record of it. I consulted internet FAQ experience and it looked easy. I just did it and it worked – new password, and I felt good. I am quite certain that I did not make any error or deviate from the procedure described. However, firstly, we noticed that sending and receiving mail (Mac Mail) had stopped working. Then we were getting requests for the keychain password – I had never heard of it. Everything was asking for keychain password.

Again internet advice - FAQ - was taken as follows:

Finder > Go (while holding down Alt) > Library > keychains > Highlight the login keychain > get info (Cmd & i).

- at the bottom of the info page were three entries the middle one was «[changed_login_myname followed by (“me”)]» so, > – highlight this entry > unlock the padlock > click the little cogwheel icon >click the highlighted entry. Done. Restart

Nothing had changed except I saw that the word ‘changed’ had disappeared on the info page when I repeated the process later.

The implication of this procedure is that by doing it the system can recognise the keychain and doesn’t need the password, as I still don’t have one.

In looking at the FAQ advice, I noticed that the keychain can be reset but with the loss of all stored passwords and certificates. Ultimately it was worth doing as my wife’s computer usage is minimal, as she has the clever stuff on her iPhone, but we do need to get the machine working again or it is just scrap. But 50% of her emails are from the Mac, so when invited I said yes – reset it – requiring the use of the new admin password of course. Nothing changed, everything still wants keychain password. Grateful for any help.

 

[EdSinger]

To add to the foregoing: I searched through other queries about keychain problems and I found a reply to someone by Cory who said that when you update your administrator password the (login?) keychain password should be the same, but you have to restart the m/c after making the change. I saw in this an easy solution - change the password again, but this time doing as he recommends. Sadly this did not work, despite several attempts. The changed admin password entered after request for keychain password - is simply refused.

We would be quite happy to scrap all the keychain data and start out fresh collecting certificates etc, but that process demands the keychain password also! Several attempts produced 'updated' login entries in keychains, so I put them back to the condition they were in before I started, using Time Machine.

NB (if anyone is reading this stuff) the machine is usable although it tell us that it can't find somewhere to store stuff - e.g. Safari, Chrome etc. The big issue is that Apple Mail Pop account neither sends nor receives anything. Hard to imagine that this is unconnected with the keychain issues.