update - instead of clearing the cookies via chrome dev tools (it didn't work for me at least) - i blew away everything 'from the beginning of time' and now it works fine ((go to settings scroll down to show advance settings, scroll down again to the clear browsing data button and make sure the popup says clear from the beginning of time... whala!
it def must be some funky browser issue - was having issues on this laptop (worked in icognito but not when clearing cookies) tried it on the wife's laptop (same exact model os login etc) and it logged in fine