dovecot question

[Wade Smart]

On 7.04 I had setup fetchmail, postfix, dovecot for handling my mail.
I very carefully wrote down all the steps but made a total dumbass
mistake of not backing up my hidden files (tomboy) so I lost those.
But I did copy over my dovecot and postfix files.
Everything went ok until I tried to check my mail.
I found that I couldnt login.
So I tried the Dovecot Troubleshooting.
Tried telnet - here is where I kinda got unsure of what I was doing.
telnet localhost 143
Trying 127.0.1.1...
Connected to localhost
* OK Dovecot ready
a login username password
a NO Authentication failed

telnet wadesmart 143
Trying 127.0.1.1...
Connected to wadesmart
* OK Dovecot ready
a login username password
a NO Authentication failed

So my username and pasword no longer work.
Im using password file  /etc/passwd.dovecot

Just uncertain as to what to check next.