GMail stopped working

Suddenly X-Notifier stopped providing notifications for GMail. There are always zero notifications although I am still logged in all the Gmail accounts and clicking the icon of mail in X-Notifier drop-down opens proper Gmail account.

I have it monitoring 3 gmail accounts and it is unable to get the status of 2 of them (red text).  So I am guessing they are rolling out changes to accounts slowly.


netnut's picture

Gmail stopped working. I have 4 accounts and 3 and gmail is not working on initial checks.

Will X-Notifier check the accounts if you click 'Check Now'?

Curmudgeon's picture

i've tried to have two yahoo addresses, but notifier won't work on both.  how you do this successfully is beyond me!  LUCKY YOU!

... and now gmail won't auto log in either...  this is the only app for me

Lucky me...
1) I only have One yahoo account. And I still haven't agreed to their incessant prompt to share my data with Verizon. So I have to kick that out of the way when I actually go to my inbox with my browser... but ...X-Notifier still checks for new email and delivers an accurate count for my one yahoo account.

2) When I start my browsers, my four gmail accounts are always Red when my browser first starts up. However... if I wait 10 minutes for the Check email interval to timeout/expire, or... I click CHECK NOW ...X-Notifier happily checks my gmail accounts. whee.
... That's why I asked Q: if one has clicked Check Now, so we could see what happens, and A: we would know if it's just a problem on startup, like mine, which is trivial for me, or ...some greater problem for everyone else. (In which case, I might send a msg to the developer, but I'm just another enduser of X-Notifier, like everybody else.)   I just either click Check Now or wait 10 minutes, while doing something else.  But..

I am also running Jeroen's replacement gmail script.  However... it can also happen that Google changes the login process on a server or two and then slowwwwwly rolls it out to everyone. So it takes a while to affect everyone, like... the developer; he can't fix what he can't see  yet. The solution to that for a quicker fix... is for someone to be brave and change their password, then send the login name and pwd  for an account which is having problems to he has something ot work with, if he can duplicate the login/check problem.  I've done that as needed, but I don't need to, yet. He is trustworthy as far as I'm concerned. He's a good guy for making this add-on.  After he's responded... you can change your password back or use a new one, so he can't use it anymore.

Frustrating? Yes, could be.  But LUCKY ME... I'm golden.  And just another X-Notifier user.
If You're lucky... maybe Jeroen will chime in here and save the day, as he does sometimes when the developer is busy, because.... the developer's primary job is in the MEDICAL field... in this great pandemic time. Hopefully he's not sick. 

If you choose to have password remember, is that generally in conjunction with cookies? In Chrome is there a way to delete cookies on exit but keep specific domain (Google)?

jeroen's picture

Settings -> Privacy and security -> Site Settings -> Cookies and other site data   (chrome://settings/cookies)

Sites that can always use cookies - Add:
Type  Click Add
Type           Click Add

idjev's picture

Mozilla Firefox  the solution for .. please

jeroen's picture

Options -> Privacy and Security -> Cookies and Site Data : Manage Exceptions...

Type  Click Allow
Type           Click Allow

Click Save Changes

idjev's picture

not working :(

jeroen's picture

  1. In XN Options Accounts List uncheck all your Gmail accounts (1st column checkbox)
  2. Logout from Google (logging out from 1 account, logs you out from all accounts)
  3. Go to about:preferences#privacy Cookies and Site Data : Manage Data...
  4. Type and click Remove All Shown -> Save Changes -> Remove
  5. Restart your Firefox browser
  6. In XN Options Accounts List enable only your default Gmail account (1st column checkbox)
  7. Click Save - I assure you it wil turn up red in XN meaning X-notifier fails to login the account
  8. Go to that Google account and login to your inbox (deal with any message popup)
  9. Click Check now from the XN icon menu and tell me if (/that..) it works!
jeroen's picture

  1. When one logs in to any account one has to provide the password for that account.
    I think X-notifier relies on the browser to remember the password.
  2. Then follows a "conversation" between the server and the client (the browser) which should result in a session with the server. The actual process depends on the server. With the Google server(s) it also involves setting cookies on the client-side (by the browser).
  3. When the X-notifier script emulates the login process correctly there is no need to keep the cookies, because these will get stored everytime. But:
  4. Google accounts get serviced by different servers on the planet. New server software that - among other things - involves safer login procedure does not reach (get rolled out to) all servers. I still have 5 accounts that get logged in by X-notifier. The others don't, but that does not mean they are not working in X-notifier: the Gmail script provides the correct scenario to skip the for those accounts invalid login procedure, which means you have to login yourself. To keep the session with the server over browser restart for those accounts you need to stop the browser from removing the cookies. Cookies have an expiration date: when they expire, you'll have to login again. When it stops working in X-notifier it also can be caused by an old stored cookie. Then delete all Google cookies, so the correct cookies get stored during the login process. 

Thank you for your patience in outlining all the deatails. I have Chrome remembering passwords now. I put those 2 lines above. XN works perfect if I am logged in. But as soon as log out (and not even closing Chrome), well, you know. It seems it might have something to do with sync, which I have enabled but shows paused simply logging out (browser open the whole time). So still a no go beyond anything and everything when not logged in.

jeroen's picture

 X-notifier fails to log your Google account in. That is a fact. But closing Chrome does not log you out, provided you keep the Google cookies upon closing Chrome (as I explained in detail before). I assume you use a Google account for Chrome Sync. Make that account the default in XN (3d column checkbox in the XN Accounts List).

Thank you for hammering home don't log out, it seems everything works. I wonder if I should chance a 2nd Gmail now.

jeroen's picture

  1. Click the Google-account icon of your first account and
    - login an account that's available in the Google-account popup
    - or click 'Add another account' at the bottom of the popup.
  2. When some Google popup message is blocking the inbox window, deal with that.
  3. Enable this account in XN Options Account List (1st column checkbox).
  4. Click Save.

Google limit is 10 accounts. 

It works!!!

jeroen's picture


jeroen's picture

  1. In the XN icon menu, Shift+Click Help. This will show the ‘Log’ menu item.
  2. Click ‘Check now’ and wait until X-notifier finishes checking.
  3. Click ‘Log’ will save the log file.
  4. In the XN icon menu, Shift+Click Help. This will hide the ‘Log’ menu item.
  5. Send the log file to
digideth's picture

Any help for a firefox user having the same issue?


jeroen's picture

It's basically the same for Firefox

gongas's picture

X-notifier stopped working after recent Google login update. Period! Unless a new extension update is released by the developer...

Maybe all accounts are handled the same now, works perfect - don't log out and preserve cookies.