qmail: 421 unable to read controls (#4.3.0)

[Prashanth Narayanan <iprash@gmail.com>]

hi all,
  i know this is a debian list but i am hoping some of you have
installed qmail. so here goes:
  i have just installed qmail on my debian-testing system (sarge)
using the guide at
http://www.pantz.org/email/qmail/qmailondebian.shtml

  when i try to logon to the smtp server, here is what  get:

prash@mantra:~$ telnet localhost 25
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
421 unable to read controls (#4.3.0)
Connection closed by foreign host.

  i have followed all the steps in the guide, but pleae let me know if
i am missing something or if any of you have seen this problem before
and solved it.
  tia,
  -prash.