Index: Lib/urllib2.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/urllib2.py	(Revision 84196)
+++ Lib/urllib2.py	(Arbeitskopie)
@@ -821,6 +821,9 @@
         self.add_password = self.passwd.add_password
         self.retried = 0
 
+    def reset_retry_count(self):
+        self.retried = 0
+
     def http_error_auth_reqed(self, authreq, host, req, headers):
         # host may be an authority (without userinfo) or a URL with an
         # authority
@@ -860,8 +863,10 @@
 
     def http_error_401(self, req, fp, code, msg, headers):
         url = req.get_full_url()
-        return self.http_error_auth_reqed('www-authenticate',
-                                          url, req, headers)
+        response = self.http_error_auth_reqed('www-authenticate',
+                                              url, req, headers)
+        self.reset_retry_count()
+        return response
 
 
 class ProxyBasicAuthHandler(AbstractBasicAuthHandler, BaseHandler):