Hard time entering passwords with Macintosh

Has anybody ever had problems transmitting a password using a mac over PC or Unix networks?

I’ve been trying to hook my new iBook G4 up to my company’s network, and it was very easy to get online, but I can’t get into my POP3 email. I’ve narrowed the problem down to the transmission of the username and password: if one of my colleagues uses her information, it works. Type mine in, and it doesn’t. I’ve used another computer to change my password to a very simple 3 character expression with just plain letters, and I’ve made sure this password works. I’ve tried switching between UTF-8, Chinese and other settings before I type it. I just get the same thing: my password or username is wrong.

(Sound of scratching head…)

does your password use chinese characters? Not sure about this one. Myself, being a network guy, I’d use a network traffic analysizer to see the exact contents of what’s being sent and received.