Index: Lib/urllib2.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/urllib2.py	(revision 88133)
+++ Lib/urllib2.py	(working copy)
@@ -819,40 +819,25 @@
             password_mgr = HTTPPasswordMgr()
         self.passwd = password_mgr
         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
         # XXX could be multiple headers
         authreq = headers.get(authreq, None)
-
-        if self.retried > 5:
-            # retry sending the username:password 5 times before failing.
-            raise HTTPError(req.get_full_url(), 401, "basic auth failed",
-                            headers, None)
-        else:
-            self.retried += 1
-
         if authreq:
             mo = AbstractBasicAuthHandler.rx.search(authreq)
             if mo:
                 scheme, quote, realm = mo.groups()
                 if scheme.lower() == 'basic':
-                    response = self.retry_http_basic_auth(host, req, realm)
-                    if response and response.code != 401:
-                        self.retried = 0
-                    return response
+                    return self.retry_http_basic_auth(host, req, realm)
 
     def retry_http_basic_auth(self, host, req, realm):
         user, pw = self.passwd.find_user_password(realm, host)
         if pw is not None:
             raw = "%s:%s" % (user, pw)
             auth = 'Basic %s' % base64.b64encode(raw).strip()
-            if req.headers.get(self.auth_header, None) == auth:
+            if req.get_header(self.auth_header, None) == auth:
                 return None
             req.add_unredirected_header(self.auth_header, auth)
             return self.parent.open(req, timeout=req.timeout)