Identity clash on Sync Server

algemmell

I recently had a system crash on my laptop when the battery ran out before the ongoing Windows updates were completed. At that time I was running Firefox 4.0 with Zotero 2.1.6 (I think) on the laptop. I had a working sync on the sync server wtih both my laptop at home and my office desktop machine. Following the crash, when I restarted the laptop, I frequently had Firefox crashes, and had to start it in Safety Mode with add-ons disabled to get it to run at all. I wanted to use Zotero, so re-enabled that once Firefox was up and running, but when I went to log onto Zotero, I found that it did not recognise my username and password. To be more exact it recognised them as belonging to another user, and therefore refused to allow me to log on as that user, even though that was the id I had been using up to then.
I created another user id and password, logged on in that name, and then used the Sync server username and password which matched that of the original account. While I can access that account perfectly and sync it from the desktop computer, when I try and log onto the sync server from the laptop I get no problem except that the My Library tab gives me a blank (empty library) and the Sync button starts spinning as soon as I open up the Zotero panel. How do I regain access to my Sync server account from the laptop? None of the processes seem to generate any error messages.

dstillman

To be more exact it recognised them as belonging to another user, and therefore refused to allow me to log on as that user, even though that was the id I had been using up to then.

What does that mean?

http://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_bugs

I created another user id and password

Don't do this.

dstillman

And you're logged into this forum with your old username, so clearly your username and password are working.

algemmell

I have been a bit loose with my terminology. When I stated that Zotero has refused to allow me to log on with the original id and password, this was not stricly accurate. I tried to register as a user (using the original id and password) on the laptop following the initial crash, but Zotero would not let me do so - the message being that this id was already in use by another user. Can I simply try logging onto the server from the laptop using the old username etc, or do I have to do something to 'cancel' the new id and password that I have created before I try that?

adamsmith

Can I simply try logging onto the server from the laptop using the old username etc

Yes.
I'm curious, though - what led you to believe that you'd have to re-register? It's not like that's something you would have to do with any other online service?

algemmell

It was the fact that I had to set up the Zotero preferences again on the laptop, and I ran into a problem doing that. Unfortunately it was a while ago and I have forgotten the actual sequence of operations and responses which lead me to believe that I had to get a new username etc.