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Okay here is the story. I was getting letters from my ISP that my modem and router were no longer supported and I would need to exchange them. So I took them down to the local Spectrum store. I finally found a time they weren't ridiculously busy at 8PM, just before closing time. I brought the new modem and router home and plugged them in. The modem activation was flawless, everything worked. My internet speed increased from 270 mbps to 370 mbps, well above the promised 300 speed.
Everything was fine until I tried to log into my YouTube account. When I tried to log into Gmail, I got the phone number verification thing. I did what I usually do with those things. I ignored it and tried to reload the page. But it wouldn't go away. I realized that my account was in recovery mode. My Gmail is not linked to another email or phone number. It wasn't required when I set up the account.
Since I couldn't verify the account with a phone number, I clicked on the other options link. It gave me these steps: 1. Remember the last password I used to log in with. That was easy. It's the exact same password I used when I set up the account a dozen years ago. 2. Log in with the same device I usually use to log in with. No problem there. That is my MacBook Pro. 3. Use the same internet connection I usually log in with, including the same wifi network. There is the problem. I no longer have that router anymore. I left that at the Spectrum store. So logging in on the same wifi network is impossible.
I have tried to research the problem. The only possible solution I have found is to wait 2 weeks until the problem resolves itself. A lot of people claim they have recovered their Gmail accounts, by simply waiting it out. That seems like a longshot, but that's what I'm doing now. I still have another week to wait before I'm going to try to log in again.
Anyway, if any one here has any other ideas on what I can do to recover my Google account, I would appreciate hearing them. Thanks in advance.
Unfortunately that is the way it is sometimes. One thing you can try doing is go into incognito mode, InPrivate Window, secret mode, whatever it may be called for your browser, and try logging in through that.
Unfortunately that is the way it is sometimes. One thing you can try doing is go into incognito mode, InPrivate Window, secret mode, whatever it may be called for your browser, and try logging in through that.
Thanks, that's an interesting idea. Is it possible to log into Google in Incognito mode? It seems to me that on YouTube when I have accidently tried to open a video in a Incognito window, it automatically logs me out, even when I'm already logged in. But I will give it a shot when I try to log in again next week. It can't hurt to try.
Thanks, that's an interesting idea. Is it possible to log into Google in Incognito mode? It seems to me that on YouTube when I have accidently tried to open a video in a Incognito window, it automatically logs me out, even when I'm already logged in. But I will give it a shot when I try to log in again next week. It can't hurt to try.
For what it's worth, nothing has worked. It looks like my Google account is toast.
What I find interesting, while researching this problem, I have learned that even if I had jumped through all their hoops and provided Google with my cell phone number and all the personal information they want, it still wouldn't guarantee that I wouldn't lose access to my account.
Many people have this same problem when they change their phone number. Then when Google asks them to verify their account, they can't receive the code. Or Google locks up their account when they try to change their phone number. For trying to change sensitive information. Providing a phone number for 2-Step verification is just another trap for losing access to your account.
I miss the old days of the internet. When as long as I remembered my password, I could rest assured be certain that I could get my email and watch my YouTube subscriptions. Today the internet is being run by absolute idiots, who have no interest in security, only in stealing as much personal information from you as they can get.
For what it's worth, nothing has worked. It looks like my Google account is toast.
What I find interesting, while researching this problem, I have learned that even if I had jumped through all their hoops and provided Google with my cell phone number and all the personal information they want, it still wouldn't guarantee that I wouldn't lose access to my account.
Many people have this same problem when they change their phone number. Then when Google asks them to verify their account, they can't receive the code. Or Google locks up their account when they try to change their phone number. For trying to change sensitive information. Providing a phone number for 2-Step verification is just another trap for losing access to your account.
I miss the old days of the internet. When as long as I remembered my password, I could rest assured be certain that I could get my email and watch my YouTube subscriptions. Today the internet is being run by absolute idiots, who have no interest in security, only in stealing as much personal information from you as they can get.
i'm having a very similar problem. i no longer have the phone associated with my account but i remember the number, so i can put the [old] number in, but can get no further. i initially thought this 2-step verification was a good idea, but am rapidly changing my mind if there's no way to keep from losing my account.
i have a hotmail account associated with this now-lost gmail account, but only the phone number option comes up when trying to access the account, and beyond that it says something like 'you didn't provide enough additional information when you set up the account' - which is BS.
Last edited by uggabugga; 11-29-2023 at 12:34 PM..
i'm having a very similar problem. i no longer have the phone associated with my account but i remember the number, so i can put the [old] number in, but can get no further. i initially thought this 2-step verification was a good idea, but am rapidly changing my mind if there's no way to keep from losing my account.
i have a hotmail account associated with this now-lost gmail account, but only the phone number option comes up when trying to access the account, and beyond that it says something like 'you didn't provide enough additional information when you set up the account' - which is BS.
It seems to be happening to a lot of people. Do you recall what triggered your account being locked? In my case it was absolutely nothing more then exchanging my modem and router for new ones. I never dreamt that that would cause a problem. For the record all my other accounts are fine. My bank account, eBay, Amazon accounts are all fine. Just Google thought that something so simple was a security risk.
I never bought into the 2-step verification thing. I have only done that one time. That was recently when my bank changed ownership, and the new bank demanded that I set up a 2-step verification using my cellphone number. I had to drive two times to the nearest bank branch 100 miles away to get it set up, because i could no longer log into my account.
2-step verification has nothing to do with security. Google just wants to get your personal information so they can sell it. I learned about it back in the early 2010s, when Google started demanding that YouTube users get Gmail accounts, and change their usernames to their real names. Their messages were "protect your YouTube account by changing your username to your real name". Most YouTubers were not very keen to that idea. Several articles were written then about Google's real reason for doing that. Google had millions of YouTube users that they were collecting data on, but they couldn't connect all that data to real persons. So the data had limited usefulness. Forcing YouTube users to provide their real names increased the value of the data. 2-step verification is just an extension of that. Just another way of connecting online activities to a real person, like what Facebook does. But it's actually an incredible security risk connecting all that personal information together. Hackers have been known to steal peoples phone numbers. Then they can access every account that person has, before they even know about it.
But I guess there is nothing anyone can do about it at this point. You can't even have a YouTube account without providing your phone number now.
It seems to be happening to a lot of people. Do you recall what triggered your account being locked? In my case it was absolutely nothing more then exchanging my modem and router for new ones. I never dreamt that that would cause a problem. For the record all my other accounts are fine. My bank account, eBay, Amazon accounts are all fine. Just Google thought that something so simple was a security risk.
I never bought into the 2-step verification thing. I have only done that one time. That was recently when my bank changed ownership, and the new bank demanded that I set up a 2-step verification using my cellphone number. I had to drive two times to the nearest bank branch 100 miles away to get it set up, because i could no longer log into my account.
2-step verification has nothing to do with security. Google just wants to get your personal information so they can sell it. I learned about it back in the early 2010s, when Google started demanding that YouTube users get Gmail accounts, and change their usernames to their real names. Their messages were "protect your YouTube account by changing your username to your real name". Most YouTubers were not very keen to that idea. Several articles were written then about Google's real reason for doing that. Google had millions of YouTube users that they were collecting data on, but they couldn't connect all that data to real persons. So the data had limited usefulness. Forcing YouTube users to provide their real names increased the value of the data. 2-step verification is just an extension of that. Just another way of connecting online activities to a real person, like what Facebook does. But it's actually an incredible security risk connecting all that personal information together. Hackers have been known to steal peoples phone numbers. Then they can access every account that person has, before they even know about it.
But I guess there is nothing anyone can do about it at this point. You can't even have a YouTube account without providing your phone number now.
no - to my knowledge, it wasn't locked, i just had stopped using it. but for years i had used it for anonymous emails, photo storage, and google-drive purposes, and still had a lot of stuff in it.
then when i heard google would be shutting down active accounts, i tried to access it, originally without remembering my password. no luck.
then i managed to get into my Evernote account, which i had been having problems getting into for months, and was able to find the last password i used for the account. still wouldn't work - because the next step after that is to verify by phone, and i no longer have that phone number
the only option from there is to click account recovery, and when i do, this is the message:
You can’t recover your account at this time because Google doesn’t have enough info to be sure this account is yours.
If you want to create a new account to use Google’s services, be sure to add a recovery phone or email address and keep them up to date.
it doesn't even seem to remember that i have a hotmail account associated with this account, because there's never an option to send a verification code to it.
no - to my knowledge, it wasn't locked, i just had stopped using it. but for years i had used it for anonymous emails, photo storage, and google-drive purposes, and still had a lot of stuff in it.
then when i heard google would be shutting down active accounts, i tried to access it, originally without remembering my password. no luck.
then i managed to get into my Evernote account, which i had been having problems getting into for months, and was able to find the last password i used for the account. still wouldn't work - because the next step after that is to verify by phone, and i no longer have that phone number
the only option from there is to click account recovery, and when i do, this is the message:
You can’t recover your account at this time because Google doesn’t have enough info to be sure this account is yours.
If you want to create a new account to use Google’s services, be sure to add a recovery phone or email address and keep them up to date.
it doesn't even seem to remember that i have a hotmail account associated with this account, because there's never an option to send a verification code to it.
ugh.
That's interesting. It seems that Google is trying to divest themselves of certain types of users. Google doesn't like anonymous users, like you or me. They hope that by locking anonymous users out of Google services, they will create a new accounts with their real names and phone numbers.
Which is kind of premature of them to think that. When I got locked out of my two Yahoo email accounts some years ago (my fault, not Yahoo's) I just stopped using Yahoo. I had no reason to go to the site anymore. Since then I have created one anonymous email account on Yahoo. But I only check that about one time a month to get verification codes, and or see if there are any important messages there that I should see.
Except for YouTube, I would do the same with Google. I don't really need anything from Google, except for YouTube access.
It's interesting that my two standalone YouTubes accounts that I haven't logged into in well over 10 years are still active, and some of the videos still get views and comments. I wouldn't even try to log into those accounts. I'm sure it would be impossible since they are not linked to Google accounts. I wonder if Google will delete those accounts eventually. Probably they will.
That's interesting. It seems that Google is trying to divest themselves of certain types of users. Google doesn't like anonymous users, like you or me. They hope that by locking anonymous users out of Google services, they will create a new accounts with their real names and phone numbers.
Which is kind of premature of them to think that. When I got locked out of my two Yahoo email accounts some years ago (my fault, not Yahoo's) I just stopped using Yahoo. I had no reason to go to the site anymore. Since then I have created one anonymous email account on Yahoo. But I only check that about one time a month to get verification codes, and or see if there are any important messages there that I should see.
Except for YouTube, I would do the same with Google. I don't really need anything from Google, except for YouTube access.
It's interesting that my two standalone YouTubes accounts that I haven't logged into in well over 10 years are still active, and some of the videos still get views and comments. I wouldn't even try to log into those accounts. I'm sure it would be impossible since they are not linked to Google accounts. I wonder if Google will delete those accounts eventually. Probably they will.
i guess it makes sense for them to want to free up accounts that were initiated years ago and rarely if ever used, but in my case they are making it impossible for me to get into an account that i a) know the password to and b) have a backup email for. which is very frustrating.
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Probably they will.
