Did it give a reason why the login failed initially? An error code for example? Often, logins fail temporarily because the server is not working as it should. If that's the reason, the tech people at your mail provider should be aware of it and should be working on it, but it sometimes takes a few days to resolve. It's not necessarily a problem within Thunderbird.

thanks for the reply; my internet provider (time warner) has 3 accounts with me; a "primmary"; a "secondary", and a third. I have difft. p/words for each and was using the wrong p/word. I think I'll change and use the same p/word for each. Problem solved. what worred me was the first announcement sajying that the site had crashed.