Fuck Microsoft. I'm done.

[Twiztid Elf]

Seriously.
I was pro xbox last two gens. Most of you know this.
My Xbox account has been gold from day one you could in Australia. So nearly 20 years I guess.
Over the last few months I've been strongly considering ditching it.

Today I go to play a few quick games on the XB1. It tells me something is wrong with my account - I need to go fix it "on the web".
So I go to login on either my PC or laptop, and get "Something went wrong, can't log you in. Too many attempts, yada, yada"
Reset the pw a couple of times with the code coming to my phone - the usual authentication thing. Still no good.

Can't login on XB. Can't login on other devices.
Now fucking around with the impenetrable wall of their support. I'm going to have to call them during their support hours - so on Saturday I guess.
Fuck this. I just can't be arsed.
I've always just paid up annually. Not sure how much I have left - i suspect it renews in April.
As soon as I get on, I'm cancelling.

[Cletus]

Just logged in to my account via xbox and it's working fine. Seems like someone has changed your password or something.

[Ambrose Burnside]

My Xbox account has been gold from day one you could in Australia. So nearly 20 years I guess.

20 years?

Damn I'm old

[flipswitch]

I had one issue years ago in the 360 era. Forgot the actual reason but I believe it was because I didn’t log into my Microsoft account I used for Xbox for a long time and lost my gamer tag and all my nerd points.

Ended up creating a new one from scratch.

[lestat]

I can't see any widespread login problems being reported on the web. Sounds very weird, suspecting your account might have gotten hacked, you have 2 factor auth turned on for your ms account?

Just checking your profile on xbox live, looks normal, only can see your activity from 4 days ago. I guess you just have to hit up MS support and find out wtf happened to your account.

[Peppermint Lounge]

Welcome back to PC where if you're waiting for an account issue to be rectified you can load up any one of your four or five other distribution platforms.

[lestat]

If he's using a PC, being locked out of your Microsoft account is concerning too. This is why I asked about 2 factor auth, since you really need to turn that on to protect your account. Same goes for your all your other accounts(steam/origin/uplay/etc).

[flipswitch]

Two step-authentication and a password manager. I can’t believe how long it took for Sony to implement one.

[t0mby]

My Xbox account has been gold from day one you could in Australia. So nearly 20 years I guess.

20 years?

Damn I'm old

Hang on, sounds too long, I'll check. Brb.

Right, I'm back, xbl launched 16yrs ago, Nov 2002. I know I got mine around April '03 and a few guys from here ordered the NZ Exclusive Xbox Double Pack XBL Experience Extravaganza Two Game Combo with chups. IE Crimson Skies and PGR2 with XBL access disc/Motogp/mech assault demo, that released Nov' 03.

So 15yrs, Elf is getting old and the elzhighmahs is starting to creep in.

[Madmya]

User error.

[Twiztid Elf]

Thanks for the suggestions all. It's best that I provide some closure on this.

So yeah, it was very strange.
Like I described in the OP, couldn't login with XB1 or on PC.
If you suspect it was user error, I can tell you, I'm not that person. Trust me.
Account hadn't been hacked. Password hadn't been changed or attempted to be changed. I would have got emails for any of this type of stuff which I did not.

I did get two emails saying that the password had been changed on the two occasions I had changed it when diagnosing the issue back on Thursday.
So I had successfully changed the password twice as per the emails. Still could not login to XB1 or on PC with the new password.
I did log a ticket with a chat bot during their out of support hours on Thursday, and it gave me a ticket number. The chat bot also said there was login issues - Strange no-one else I know was affected.
Tried Friday - still no good. Tried Saturday morning - still no good.

Anyhow, first chance I get to settle in with the requisite amount of free time to subject myself to the process and system is Saturday afternoon.
I try it one more time on the XB1 before attempting to reach out to them, and boom - it's working. It asked for the password. I put in the latest password (after the two resets), and it worked fine.
Super relieved that I didn't have to deal with support.

I can only speculate that 1) There was an issue affecting a small percentage of the user base that got resolved or 2) maybe the bot ticket eventually got through to where ever could fix it? I didn't get any email from support though.
Or 3) TPTB are out to get me for my dissenting ways.

Ah well. shrug. Turned out ok. Just 3 days (or more) of un-explainable outage.

[Twiztid Elf]

Thank fuck I cancelled my Gold subscription when I did.

So the same issue came back last week.
On xbox: Login on the web and fix your account.
On PC/ Mac laptop: Too many wrong attempts... (sure....)

Sat down with a drink this arvie to sort it out. Been on support with a nice support guy called Chris for an hour, but he hasn't been able to fix it. sigh.
Don't ever remember any nightmare like this with Sega/Sony/Nintendo.
However this is my second rodeo with Microsoft - the first being with my dodgey first OG Xbox.

Maybe I've been flagged as Alt-Right Nazi dissenter? No Microsoft video games for you!
Or maybe Unfunk pulled some strings at MS to fuck me over?

[unfnknblvbl]

I don't work for the government anymore, but thanks for thinking of me

[Twiztid Elf]

Over the last few weeks, I've been considering jumping back in and picking up a Series S to play FH5 on when it comes out.
As if on cue, these issues are back.

I notice my PC Gamepass hasn't logged in. That's odd. Try to login. "Problem with account, go login on a browser". Oh boy, here we go again. Sigh.
Go to a browser try to sign in - no good.
Reset the password via 2FA - no problem.
Try to login again - no good.

[Twiztid Elf]

Well, that's 3 hours of a Sunday afternoon well spent with "support".
Online chat to a bot or useless support person. No resolution.
I'll try talking to someone tonight when their phone lines open.

[flipswitch]

Try calling 1800 l e s t a t. Free call, won’t cost you a thing but you have to put up with a dodgy Indian accent.

[t0mby]

He can't be an Indian, he rides a bike not a horse.

[lestat]

You have something trying to log in with bad credentials or it doesn't support 2FA properly. It's probably why your account keeps getting locked out.

if you go to the online microsoft account page, under security they have a sign in activity page. I would go though that and see what it is that's causing you account to be locked out.

I would review every device/app that uses your microsoft account.

[Twiztid Elf]

Come on man. I've done all that.

Before I went to them, I'd attempted logging in on 4 browsers (via different MS entry portals) and the Xbox app on this PC, two browsers on my laptop, on my phone over 4g, and on my old XB360. Same thing everywhere.
If I intentionally put in the wrong password, it tells me the password is wrong.
If I put in the right password it looks like it gets in some authentication loop - I see the browser re-attempting, and a number in the URL increments about 4-5 times, then it returns "Something went wrong and we can't sign you in at the moment. Please try again later. The Microsoft account login server has detected too many repeated authentication attempts. Please wait a moment and try again."

Something is truly borked with my account.
The guy I interacted with this morning said there is a known issue that is happening to more people than just me, and to try later in the week. I did get a ticket number. (Although I also got a ticket number yesterday). Yay.
Maybe, like I speculated in early 2019, my ticket on that occasion found its way to a competent tech, that it just strangely started working ok again one day. Maybe it'll happen again.

[t0mby]

It's Bill Gates man, he's looking for you.

[Twiztid Elf]

Maybe, like I speculated in early 2019, my ticket on that occasion found its way to a competent tech, that it just strangely started working ok again one day. Maybe it'll happen again.

Huzzah. I hadn't tried in a while as I've been busy running ultra marathons and shit. But I just tried again, and all is good. My ticket either found its way to a competent tech, or there is some automated clean up fixes shit.
Anyhow, all good. Woohoo!

[lestat]

[Twiztid Elf]

Well, I'm glad to be playing FH5 and Halo Infinite.
Whether they're good or not is the tougher question.