!Netfetch ....won't!

I’ve got an issue with !Netfetch (v5.5) and specifically, RPCEmu (0.9.3/5.27 running on my Win7 laptop). RPCEmu is connected to the web via Network Address Translation, as recommended, and !Netsurf successfully retrieves web pages as required. When !Netfetch is prompted to fetch mail it logs on to the mailserver (BT) as normal, claims to be reading the mailbox contents, then after about a minute times out before downloading any mail. The software, settings and entries are identical to those on my Pi4 which works fine (albeit with an equally long pause at the mailbox-reading stage). Any suggestions as to what the problem might be would be welcome.

George !NetFetch is now on v5.53.

You could turn on higher level of logging to see the communication between you and the server that usually gives a clue to where the issue is.

Also check you are using the latest version of the AcornSSL module (which comes with v5.53 of !NetFetch but is available separately I believe.

Any suggestions as to what the problem might be would be welcome.

Possibly sluggish name resolution and reverse.

in a task window type

gethost -t www.google.co.uk

and also

gethost -x -t 8.8.4.4

Check with the same for other servers you might be interested in.
0.012 to 0.034 seconds is typical

George !NetFetch is now on v5.53…/and/.. latest version of the AcornSSL module

Have tested with both running: same result.

0.012 to 0.034 seconds is typical

I got 0.082 secs on the first, and 0.045 secs on the second of the addresses mentioned – does that rank as slow? For comparison, on the Pi4 I get 0.028 and 0.021 respectively.

Have you increased the logging level within !NetFetch, as I suggested early to detailed, this will log the chatter between your computer and the server you are trying to access, and usually indicates what the issue is. Its the first I do when change any settings for some reason or have an issue.

I got 0.082 secs on the first, and 0.045 secs on the second of the addresses mentioned – does that rank as slow?

Those are fine, I’ve seen slow response generally when the times are near 0.8 – 1.00
Your base networking is OK

So, the more likely is as Chris suggested, a delay on communication to the specific server. Increasing the logging level (while testing) should give you visibility of slow parts of the conversation.

Thanks, Chris and Steve – I’ll give increased logging a go.

Postscript: comprehensive logging didn’t tell me anything I could make sense of, so acting on a hunch I checked my BT inbox using webmail. Turns out, nearly 10,000 emails is a few thousand too many! I got rid of most of them and normal service is now restored.

Turns out, nearly 10,000 emails is a few thousand too many!

You could have been an Exec at our place, but you just failed the final test and deleted the dross :)