cant add existing Google account to brand new phone

[AndrewHeard]

I have just bought a Sony Xperia Z1. It is working fine over wifi, I can browse the web & have upgraded all the apps & system. Android version: 4.4.4 14.4.A.0.157. However when I attempt to add my existing Google account it times out after ~30 seconds with a message "can’t establish connection". I can login to the gmail account from my PC. My old HTC phone doesn't have any problems. It can't be a google server issue because I can connect via PC and old HTC phone. From my google account security web page the list correctly shows the new device as being "added" and "signed in" with valid dates and no errors. I also successfully added my existing Facebook account. I then tried created a new Google account but got a similar message “there was a problem communicating with google servers…”.

Any suggestions? Am desparate for a solution.

[Thommo]

Open Settings then Apps and swipe to All then Locate and open Google services and tap on Clear cache and Clear data then reboot and test

[Thommo]

You may also need to try the above again but this time open Google Account Manager and Clear cache and Data then reboot and test

[AndrewHeard · Accepted solution]

Thanks Thommo. I had tried that already.

I just now did a complete Factory data reset and everything apparently now working. I didn't have anything to loose given its a new phone. Glad its working (I hope) but what a *total waste of 1/2 a day*. I get the impression some required Google sync service didn't start on 1st boot of the phone. 

[AndrewHeard]

Although a factory reset fixed the original problem, I then simply move to the next problem:

Google Play times out on opening connection

Google Location Reporting > not available in this region (Australia)

Google Now won't work until Google Location Reporting is available

My root/etc/hosts file just contained "127.0.0.1 localhost" which I assume is OK. I couldn't delete the file anyway.

There is another forum topic on this subject http://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-Z-ZL-ZR/Google-location-services-problem-after-4-4-update/m-p/7...

but none of the suggestions helped.