I'm using 1.7.9 and I've never had this issue before. I updated Java recently, so that shouldn't be the problem.
So, when I open the launcher, it says "Play Offline" instead of "Play". My internet is fine, it's running very well and everything else works. I'm not sure why.
When I attempt to connect to a server, it says this:
"Failed to connect to server.
Failed to login: the authentication are currently down for maintenance."
It was working fine earlier…