Why is my e-mail not working? "Too many failed password attempts" explained

If your email suddenly stops connecting, or your phone or Outlook keeps saying the password is wrong, a device is almost always trying an old or mistyped password. After a few wrong tries, the server blocks that internet connection for a while to keep hackers out. The fix is to find the device with the wrong password and update it.

Why it happens

The server counts failed logins from each internet connection. On our server, five wrong passwords from the same connection within 15 minutes is enough to trigger a block. Some of the usual reasons:

• You changed the email password in cPanel, but your phone, laptop or tablet still has the old one and keeps trying every few minutes.
• A device you forgot about, like an old laptop or the phone of someone who has left, is still checking the mailbox.
• The new password was mistyped when you updated a device.

It can block the whole office. The block is on the internet connection, not the person. Everyone who shares your office Wi-Fi can lose email at the same time, even though only one device had the wrong password.

Fix it in four steps

1. List every device that uses the address. Phones, laptops, tablets, the office computer, and any device you no longer use but have not wiped.
2. Set a fresh password in cPanel. Go to Email Accounts, click Manage next to the address, type a new password under Security and save. Clicking Generate gives you a strong one. See How to create an email address in cPanel if you need the way in.
3. Update the password on every device on your list, and remove the email account from any device you no longer use. Miss one, and the block comes back.
4. Give the block time to clear. It lifts by itself after a while. You can check the new password straight away in webmail from a different connection, such as your phone on mobile data.

Still blocked after an hour? Open a support ticket and include your internet address. To find it, type "what is my IP" into your browser's search bar from the blocked connection.

If you think someone else got into the mailbox

Look in the Sent folder. Messages you did not send, or a pile of bounce-backs for mail you never wrote, mean someone else may have the password. Change the password in cPanel straight away, update your own devices, and open a support ticket so the account can be looked at.

Keep it from happening again

• Save passwords in a password manager. The one built into your phone or browser is fine. No more typos.
• Remove your email from a device before you sell it or hand it back.
• Use a long, generated password for each address. The Generate button in cPanel makes one for you.

Setting up a device again? Start here: Setting up your business email: start here.