Why won't icloud account accept my password from my Mac Mini?
I had to take the following steps to get it to work again:


reboot Mac Mini
sign in using local account.
When I signed in, it said that FaceTime needed a password -- that was my original icloud account.
I then went to Settings and signed into the iCloud account (using my original icloud password).
it requested I set up the sync items (find my mac, etc).


The sign on worked but my appleId sign on now seems to have the same password as my icloud id which I thought was not possible in the past.

So, I guess the point is that if you encounter this error where you can't sign into iCloud you should reboot the device and work through it to see if you can get signed in again.