You do use a password but you're not aware of doing so. When you created the account, you had to type in the account username and password: Thunderbird stored those details for you and has been silently using them ever since. What has happened now is that for some reason, when you try to log in the server refuses the request. Thunderbird suggests you 'retry' (in case the server is temporarily busy) but also suggests you enter your new password, because one common reason for login failures is that users have changed the password on their accounts and haven't told Thunderbird about it. A first step is to forget Thunderbird for the time being and log in to your account via the email provider's website. Make sure that the password and log in details haven't changed, that the account is working normally etc. Once you have verified that, you can start trying to troubleshoot Thunderbird.

did as stated above but didn't help, any other suggestions? thanks fearless42