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A friend just got a used Mac Mini with Snow Leopard and is having an unusual log-in issue.

The problem is that he cannot log-in to ANY Apple site with that machine. He cannot log-in to developer.apple.com, iTunes, or the Apple store. Other sites work as expected.

He can log-in to any of the Apple sites using his iPad and he also can log-in using my MacBookPro.

Any ideas on this?

The issue occurs using Chrome or Safari as the browser. It seems to be something about this machine; but I'm just not sure what files or apps or system prefs to investigate. He can log-in to Amazon and Google accounts as usual, just not Apple sites.

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Is this a new OS install or are there other programs running? – Mark Jan 6 '12 at 16:48
The OS was installed. My friend tried re-installing OSX, but didn't seem to resolve the issue. – wdypdx22 Jan 6 '12 at 17:10
To clarify my question is is there only the OS or are there other programs? – Mark Jan 6 '12 at 17:12
Yes there are other programs. Not sure of the details since it's not my computer and it was purchased from another acquaintance. – wdypdx22 Jan 6 '12 at 17:15
We need to know what the other programs are e.g. Little Snitch - I suspect the easiest fix is to do an OS install erasing the disk first – Mark Jan 6 '12 at 17:16
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2 Answers

up vote 0 down vote

If the computer is used the most likely cause is previous user's settings. It is worth purging all cookies as a start and, if this doesn't work, erasing the browsers entirely and reinstalling from scratch, and if this fails erase the drive and reinstall everything from scratch.

The only way a problem could possibly persist after this is if professional apple sites tie logins to the hardware ID of a specific computer.

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They don't. Also, websites don't have access to hardware IDs. Not through only a web browser, anyways. – Jason Salaz♦ Jan 8 '12 at 5:42
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Actually fixed after switching from wireless to ethernet. And even now works wirelessly after manually assigning an IP address.

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You should mark your response as answered if the problem is resolved ! – Ermiar May 12 '12 at 17:52

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