# Why can't I access g-mail? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2010, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084 "2010-09-26T11:30:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/1 "2010-09-26T11:30:19Z")
For some reason, I can’t access g-mail on my laptop, either through IE or Firefox. I’m not running into any other access problems for anywhere else on the web, just that one particular site. On IE, I get “The page cannot be displayed”. On Firefox, I get “Server not found”. Sometimes, I can access the actual password interface and sometimes I can’t, but when I do get a chance to enter my password, I never get farther than that. 😕 Thanks for any help! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/2 "2010-09-26T11:52:25Z")
Do you have the right URL? It’s gmail not g-mail. Or try [mail.google.com](http://mail.google.com) ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/3 "2010-09-26T11:57:49Z")
What response do you get if you open a command prompt and enter: ping [www.gmail.com](http://www.gmail.com) ? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/4 "2010-09-26T13:51:26Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Do you have the right URL? > > It’s gmail not g-mail. Or try [mail.google.com](http://mail.google.com) Good lord, I’m not an idiot. I never type in the URL. I access gmail through the Google home page, or by clicking in the URL window when the automated list makes itself visible, but neither of these has been working. Even googling “gmail” and using any of the different results as pathways to the interface as come up with nothing. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/5 "2010-09-26T13:53:35Z")
> [@mittu](#): > > What response do you get if you open a command prompt and enter: > > ping [www.gmail.com](http://www.gmail.com) > > ? Result: > [@](#): > > SUCCESS! PING requests and packets to [www.gmail.com](http://www.gmail.com) were successfully received and transmitted from [www.gmail.com](http://www.gmail.com) > > PING [googlemail.l.google.com](http://googlemail.l.google.com) (72.14.204.19) 56(84) bytes of data. > 64 bytes from [iad04s01-in-f19.1e100.net](http://iad04s01-in-f19.1e100.net) (72.14.204.19): icmp\_seq=0 ttl=54 time=2.65 ms > 64 bytes from [iad04s01-in-f19.1e100.net](http://iad04s01-in-f19.1e100.net) (72.14.204.19): icmp\_seq=1 ttl=54 time=2.89 ms No change in the results, though. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/6 "2010-09-26T13:59:02Z")
My gmail seems to be working fine. I just tried it (I had to re-activate it, as it seems I haven’t used it in over 9 months), but otherwise it had no problems. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/7 "2010-09-26T14:39:38Z")
Have you done the usual basic stuff - clearing the cache or even better running CCleaner? ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/8 "2010-09-26T14:52:48Z")
I’ve been having similar problems for the last few days with gmail and google-related sites. Also only my laptop. It’s frustrating. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/9 "2010-09-26T15:37:33Z")
I’m glad I’m not the only one; but GMail and even Google Search are giving me problems lately. This seems to have started about a week ago. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/10 "2010-09-27T04:32:32Z")
How does this URL work for you? > **[Gmail](https://accounts.google.com/v3/signin/identifier?btmpl=mobile&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2Fx%2F165s53u1k1r0v%2F&emr=1&ifkv=AXo7B7VmnZLA0yTqvR9n_mRD0hK40n0Wf11kxNGvROa54J4fOrxBiNFEFi3g6RKLk8Iek8KoZ3wy<mpl=ecobh&nui=5&osid=1&passive=true&scc=1&service=mail&ss=1&flowName=GlifWebSignIn&flowEntry=ServiceLogin&dsh=S1812440745%3A1692816938034517)** > > Gmail is email that’s intuitive, efficient, and useful. 15 GB of storage, less spam, and mobile access. It’s a mobile version or something. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/11 "2010-09-27T18:54:30Z")
Clear your cookies. That’s always the answer to GMail problems. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/12 "2010-09-28T00:52:01Z")
It’s possible a internet gateway is down. We had issues with one of our websites being inaccessible for people in a certain geographic region. For the sake of argument, I’ll say people around Philadelphia. When a Philly-based client pinged our site, the results were all fine because the server pinging us was actually based in Honolulu. It took awhile and a few support tickets to determine the issue. Their ISP was trying to access our website through a gateway that had gone kerput. Once their ISP’s servers had re-propogated, the issue cleared itself up. It took about 24 hours. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/13 "2010-09-28T15:39:08Z")
Try [https://gmail.com](https://gmail.com) They are sometimes picky about the “s”, meaning “secure.” ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/14 "2010-09-28T15:53:23Z")
Top right corner of the Google page: iGoogle No, I don’t know what iGoogle is either, but I found that signing out of it fixed my Gmail access problems. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/15 "2010-09-28T15:56:08Z")
Gmail is ridiculously slow for me at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/16 "2010-09-28T15:57:11Z")
I noticed this morning that for a short period of time, some emails I sent to a Google Group were not sent out to the group members although they were on the group’s page. Figured Google was having some problems. It eventually sent it after about an hour. Not sure if it is related but I thought I’d chime in. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/17 "2010-09-28T16:21:30Z")
Ahem. **Log out of iGoogle!!!** Being logged in to iGoogle, which Google “helpfully” does for you automatically, causes problems with Gmail. The fix, as I mentioned a couple of posts back, is to **log out of iGoogle!!!** ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/18 "2010-09-28T16:26:26Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Being logged in to iGoogle, which Google “helpfully” does for you automatically, causes problems with Gmail. Not for me it doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/19 "2010-09-28T16:33:02Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > > [@Shakester](#): > > > > Being logged in to iGoogle, which Google “helpfully” does for you automatically, causes problems with Gmail. > > Not for me it doesn’t. Well, it’s a big wide world, with a lot of diversity in it. If you prefer, let’s amend my statement to: > [@](#): > > Being logged in to iGoogle, which Google “helpfully” does for you automatically, causes problems with Gmail for many people. But not all of them. Better? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-access-g-mail/555084/20 "2010-09-28T16:45:25Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Better? Yes.