Usenet error

[#1]

Hi
does anyone know why I would get an error trying to read from groups on news.force9.net - 480 authentication required?
the server is just set up asis in Agent, ie no login required.
thanks

[#2]

Hi there,
I assume you're on a Force9 connection? Do you have problems with any other services? Does it work if you do authenticate?

[#3]

If I authenticate then I get 481 - Access denied via @ auth server. With secure password: 501 bad authentication.
Revert to no login - I can get new headers ok it seems.
I was able just now to get a couple of bodies by double-clicking in the group.
But bodies marked for retrieval, when Agent tries to get them, sit in the queue and timeout, endlessly retry, then give the 480 message until I stop them.
Odd and somewhat frustrating!

[#4]

Might be worth deleting and recreating the account in Agent. Avoid using authentication as it will not work. The only requisite is that you're connecting via your Force9 connection.

[#5]

Tried deleting and recreating the server in agent. Hasn't helped much.  Still getting 480 Authentication required from the server.
I can get headers ok and refresh groups,  I can sometimes get a single selected body. However getting more than one selected body or any number of marked bodies causes a timeout.
Watching it in Wireshark it seems that the body data is retrieved but then agent waits for something and then times out.
May be a bug in Agent.  I'll try this with another newsreader and post an update here. 

[#6]

ok the answer was simple - I was using the wrong address - should have been usenet.f9.net.uk. Duh.

[#7]

Shouldn't make any difference as both host names point to the same server:

C:\Documents and Settings\bpullen>nslookup news.force9.net
Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    europe.isp.giganews.com
Address:  216.196.109.145
Aliases:  news.force9.net, usenet.force9.net, nntp-readers.plus.net

nslookup usenet.f9.net.uk
Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    europe.isp.giganews.com
Address:  216.196.109.145
Aliases:  usenet.f9.net.uk, usenet.force9.net, nntp-readers.plus.net

If you have more than four threads open to the server at any one time then I think you'll start getting username/password prompts.