It can happen to the best of us. The other day my assistant, who is a “thoroughbred” programmer, comes up enquiring whether things are fine on Hotmail because he just cannot login to his email account. A quick check from my side showed that there was nothing wrong with Hotmail because I could login without problems. My assistant insisted that he was using the correct username (the full Hotmail email address) and password but they were being rejected.
I asked him to try signing at his Hotmail account from my computer which he did… and successfully. He logged out and went back to his system which was a new Sony VAIO running Windows 7. The problem persisted. The poor boy just couldn’t login at the email account.
So I moved my bulk from the chair and went up to his desk. I tried signing in and failed!
Whoa!
What was going on? Why couldn’t we login at the Hotmail email account from this laptop?
With experience I’ve learnt that ‘throwing arms up in the air’ doesn’t solve anything. A calm mind is what we needed and so I took a few deep breaths. And that’s when it occurred to me.
It had to be the “Caps Lock” issue, something I too had faced a long time ago. Since we hadn’t used Sony ever (we’re all Thinkpad fans), the keyboard layout as well as the placement of the indicator lights were kind of ‘new’ to us. No offence to the VAIO – it’s a great brand and I quite like our new laptops. But as we were not able to spot the indicator lights quickly we did waste a few minutes of our lives.
Anyway, the Caps Lock toggle key was pressed again and things worked without any problems.
Conclusion: Cannot login to your email account? First check whether the Caps Lock is on. Because it will make all characters in uppercase and, as you probably know, passwords are case-sensitive.
Image Source: http://www.splitreason.com/product/977
Update: I know we sound like a bunch of idiots, but a similar issue was faced with the “Num Lk” (Number Lock) key on the VAIO laptops… still getting used to these.
Moral of the story: One can always think better with a calm mind.
If this doesn’t solve your problem, refer the links below:
I have been in hospital for the last 2 months maybe longer, kidney transplant. My hotmail account seems to have been deleted, can I get it back?
Janet, a Hotmail email account is closed by the service without your consent if you don’t long in for about 9 months – check Email address expired?. Or if someone got hold of your password, he or she can manually delete the Hotmail account.
My old email was hacked and it has been causing me problems. There was no alternate email for that and I’ve forgotten the security question and answer. What can i do?
Sorry, can’t help you with that. You need to contact the support staff.
I can receive mail with my windows live but all of a sudden i can’t send anything.It often asks me to sign into windows live mail . When I type in my email address it automaticly shows 10 little dots in my password window. When I click to go on it tells me the password or user is wrong.When I erase the 10 dots and type in the only password i have ever used with only 7 characters and try that I get the same message. and the 10 little dots are back.I have tried to reset the password with no luck
The Caps lock key did the trick. Thanks.
Here I was tearing my hair because I wasn’t able to login at the account. I feel so stupid. Thanks a lot anyways.
Feel really dumb right now [Slaps on the head]
Feel like such a dolt!
You know I was floundering here. Thanks for the hint. Turned Caps Lock off.
Is it possible to get my password back?
I forgot my password and I can’t access my email account.
@Sanmesh Chalke
Sorry, I cannot help you with the login details of your account. You may try to retrieve the password by answering the security questions if you had set them up. Else please contact the customer support at the service provider.
A simple solution though not very obvious to people new at computers.
The password I was entering was incorrect. I was using the wrong case. Opps. Thanks.
Nice advice.
Doesn’t seem like a letter-case issue. My password is correct and I know it. Still unable to log in.
This is an ideal example of people being at fault – not checking the caps lock key – and instead blaming the entire world for their troubles.
Please help me. I had been entering the password incorrectly ( not noticed that caps lock was pressed). Now I cannot login to my account. They have asked me to wait for 24 hours.
@Ronson Ziru
When an email account is accessed multiple times with an incorrect password many online email services simply block it, typically, for 24 hours. Please understand that this is a protective measure against automated login attempts used by hackers. You would be able to check your emails after a day. Be patient.
How do I get to the security questions to answer?
I’ve rechecked and rechecked the Capslock key. But I still cannot login at my account. Someone has changed the password.
@Maggie
Follow the “Can’t access your account?” link from the Hotmail login page.