hi, thanks for the suggestions - definitely connected to internet !
In the end I went through the 'update' process in Mackeeper and even though there was nothing relevant that I could see - somehow I was able to sign in !
- It was strange as I never got any errors in the sign in at all ... however if I went through the process of struggling to sign in request reminder for password it would say my email address / iD was not recognised - bizzare as it was all the same info/details usedto sign in on my ipad and used to purchase all my software recently and in the past !!