imap server setup

I've followed the instructions on many web pages to set up an IMAP MTA on Suse 9.1, and I keep getting the error message: "Unable to login. Probably the password is wrong. The server replied: LOGIN failed" Does this look familiar to anyone who might know a work-around? One thing that might be biting me in the butt is that I read Kmail (My mail client) requires SSL/TLS for encryption. When I click "Check What the Server Supports", it gives me as encryption options "none" or "Use TLS...", both of which result in the aforementioned "LOGIN" failed message. I'm at a loss: do I have to do all that ssl cert generating stuff? Thanks!