I was using gmail (googlemail.com) earlier today without any login problems.

Clearing cookies does sometimes help if there are login problems, and it may also be worth clearing the browser cache.

As you are saying "but i need to be able to 'login to sites' without them 'whooshing me back to the login page' everytime " is your intention to stay logged in to a site even if the tab has been closed and re-opened ? If you are trying to remain logged in you probably may need to retain at least some of a site's cookies. Additionally cookies may well retain information about your settings and customisations on some sites.

As a possibly separate problem what are you doing about your login passwords on sites such as gmail, are you entering them manually or getting firefox, (or something else) to remember them. Are you trying to stay logged in even after you completely close Firefox?

Have you seen Fix login issues on websites that require a username and password

hi

thanks for getting back to me

what i mean by

"but i need to be able to 'login to sites' without them 'whooshing me back to the login page' everytime "

is enter login and password ........... press return. ......redirecting. .........back to login page.. .....(rinse and repeat)

it just shoots me back to gmail login page

kvr forum did the same but deleting a cookie helped

i have an inprivate toggle app, would tha be mucking things up.

i dont really want to run loads of test and have to reenter all my forum login details over agin every time i flush stuff out.

so tests with the least disruption are prefered first

I'll check the link you've posted too

I cleared cookies and browser cache following this advice

http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=32050

............ problem is still there  :(

any other ideas welcome

What exactly is the " inprivate toggle app, '

• is it this Firefox add-on Toggle Private Browsing 1.8 ?
• Or is it something else, if so, what ?

From your descriptions I understand that

• you are totally unable to log in to Gmail UNLESS in Private Mode but otherwise you are able to log in.
• you are using some extension or application to control the Private Mode setting.

The suggestions in the info I linked to earlier, would include advice to try firefox in

• Firefox safe mode
  try that but note when doing so
  on the first dialogue window do not make changes just click on continue.

Whilst troubleshooting these problems it is probably best to NOT set firefox to remember logins and passwords; otherwise you may need to check for possible corrupt info in the related password and key files. It will therefore be worth trying with gmail as an exception to the sites for which passwords are remembered.

Note also if you are in private browsing mode firefox will be unable to remember a new password. Also if you do consider resetting any Master Password remember to backup all the passwords and log-ins first.

• see also http://kb.mozillazine.org/Password_Manager#Troubleshooting
• and Use a Primary Password to protect stored logins and passwords

in private toggle app = https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/toggle-private-browsing/?src=api

"you are totally unable to log in to Gmail UNLESS in Private Mode but otherwise you are able to log in. "

dude ....what ..."that's heads you win tales i lose"...kind of answer...

OK

IF inprivate=ON Gmail CAN login to mail

IF inprivate=OFF gmail CAN'T login to mail (it just redirects back to mail login page)

IF inprivate=OFF then in google homepage google shows at the top that i'm logged in to google (at top right of google page.)

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8831/screenshot1305.jpg

but when i go to login in...... i enter the correct user name and password....press login..........and it just redirects me back to the login page....

tab says "redirecting" (flashes up for a second and the web address flashes as https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLoginauth

page just returns to the gmail login page, rather than login(looks a bit like if you press refresh)

it i go to google it shows i am logged in at the top right and give me an option to logout

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6676/screenshot1306.jpg

firefox in safe mode= gmail not login cleared cache = gmail not login removed every cookie called google = gmail not login

renamed some files in firefox folder extention.ini (folled Firefox advice) 3 files renamed. = gmail not login

i added google to safe site

To add allowed sites in Mozilla Firefox:

   Go to the Tools menu and select Options.
   Click the Privacy tab.
   Click Exceptions and type www.google.com in the 'Address of web site' section.
   Click Allow.
   Click OK.

Still not letting me login to gmail WITHOUT being IN PRIVATE=ON

If clearing the cookies doesn't help then it is possible that the file cookies.sqlite that stores the cookies is corrupted.

Rename (or delete) cookies.sqlite (cookies.sqlite.old) and delete cookies.sqlite-journal and cookies.txt, if they exist, in the Profile Folder in case the file cookies.sqlite got corrupted.

Rename (or delete) cookies.sqlite =fixes it

This worked

You truly are the FireFox master :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) (happy days)

What is that file and what information doe it contain? what is going to be different now i renamed it and it created a new one?

You're welcome

cookies.sqlite As said earlier it stores your cookies. Current versions of Firefox store them in sqlite databases rather than as discrete single cookie files. You may be interested in *http://kb.mozillazine.org/Websites_report_cookies_are_disabled

Cookies that are lost will tend to get recreated, but if the problem is caused by the add-on, or some other undetermined cause it may re-occur.