Password not recognised (again).

[MrFusion]

Twice within one week my password was not recognised after waking from sleep. This hasn't happend before in my 15 years of Mac usage. I could recover via iCloud. I recently upgraded to Monterey. Instead of full new install, I updated in-place.

Is this indicative of a hardware problem, a Monterey problem or a compromised system?
Do I need to nuke my installation and/or reset all of my other devices and/or do I need to buy a new device before this one locks me out forever?

 

[Fishrrman]

I can't answer the question as to why the password isn't working, but...
... if you don't have your data backed up on another drive, now is the time to start thinking about it.

 

[MrFusion]

I can't answer the question as to why the password isn't working, but...
... if you don't have your data backed up on another drive, now is the time to start thinking about it.

I do, I do.

iCloud and TimeMachine and another disk.

 

[KaliYoni]

hardware problem

In the absence of more details, my first reaction is your situation could be caused by:

• A problem with your keyboard (yes, keyboards do wear out or develop problems)
• A Bluetooth problem, either on your Mac or on the keyboard if you have a wireless keyboard
• The very brief delay many machines have in accepting keyboard input after starting up, restarting, and waking up. For example, my iMac often "misses" characters typed in the first half-second or so after the screen becomes readable.

Personally, I probably wouldn't try a macOS install or restore until I felt confident the problem couldn't be attributed to the keyboard, a cable or Bluetooth, RF interference, or a built-in quirk of macOS.

In any case, it's good you have redundant backups. If your password input problem does turn out to be due to something major failing on your Mac, you can get back up and running on a new machine with minimal hassle.

 

[kibepo73]

If you follow the basic steps but the Mac still doesn't accept the correct password, this means your Mac may be facing more complex system-related problems. The issue can be login items incompatibility, start-up disk errors, file damage, Mac hard drive errors etc. However, below are the few ways to fix the problems and make your Mac recognize your login password again:

1. Reset NVRAM/PRAM
2. Reset SMC
3. Boot into Safe Mode
4. Reset your login password
5. Reset your Mac

Hope it will help!

 

[MrFusion]

Thanks for the replies.

I now think the culprit is the keyboard itself. After enough tries and punching the keys, the password is accepted.
Although...either I forgot to type or the typing errors only happens in the login window.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I now think the culprit is the keyboard itself. After enough tries and punching the keys, the password is accepted."

WHICH Mac do you have?
A MacBook Pro, by any chance?
If so, is it one with the butterfly keyboard?

 

[MrFusion]

"I now think the culprit is the keyboard itself. After enough tries and punching the keys, the password is accepted."

WHICH Mac do you have?
A MacBook Pro, by any chance?
If so, is it one with the butterfly keyboard?

Multiple 😬

The one with issues is a Mac mini 2022. Not sure how old this keyboard is actually.
That's not something I keep track off.
I somehow managed to skip the butterfly keyboards.