diff --git a/packages/at_auth/lib/src/at_auth_impl.dart b/packages/at_auth/lib/src/at_auth_impl.dart
index 93da5f48..0e2818f4 100644
--- a/packages/at_auth/lib/src/at_auth_impl.dart
+++ b/packages/at_auth/lib/src/at_auth_impl.dart
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@ class AtAuthImpl implements AtAuth {
     }
     if (atAuthKeys == null) {
       throw AtAuthenticationException(
-          'keys either were not provided in the AtAuthRequest, or could not be read from provided keys file');
+          'keys either were not provided in the AtAuthRequest,'
+              ' or could not be read from provided keys file');
     }
     enrollmentIdFromRequest ??= atAuthKeys.enrollmentId;
     var pkamPrivateKey = atAuthKeys.apkamPrivateKey;
@@ -86,10 +87,12 @@ class AtAuthImpl implements AtAuth {
       var pkamResponse = (await pkamAuthenticator!
           .authenticate(enrollmentId: enrollmentIdFromRequest));
       isPkamAuthenticated = pkamResponse.isSuccessful;
-    } on Exception catch (e) {
-      _logger.severe('Caught exception: $e');
+    } on AtException catch (e) {
+      _logger.severe('Caught $e');
       throw AtAuthenticationException(
-          'Unable to authenticate- ${e.toString()}');
+          'Unable to authenticate | Cause: ${e.message}');
+    } on Exception catch (e) {
+      throw AtAuthenticationException('Unable to authenticate | Cause: $e');
     }
     _logger.finer(
         'PKAM auth result: ${isPkamAuthenticated ? 'success' : 'failed'}');
@@ -113,7 +116,7 @@ class AtAuthImpl implements AtAuth {
     if (!cramAuthResult.isSuccessful) {
       throw AtAuthenticationException(
           'Cram authentication failed. Please check the cram key'
-          ' and try again \n(or) contact support@atsign.com');
+          ' and try again (or) contact support@atsign.com');
     }
     //2. generate key pairs
     var atAuthKeys = _generateKeyPairs(atOnboardingRequest.authMode,
@@ -127,7 +130,8 @@ class AtAuthImpl implements AtAuth {
     //3. update pkam public key through enrollment or manually based on app preference
     String? enrollmentIdFromServer;
     if (atOnboardingRequest.enableEnrollment) {
-      // server will update the apkam public key during enrollment.So don't have to manually update in this scenario.
+      // server will update the apkam public key during enrollment.
+      // So don't have to manually update in this scenario.
       enrollmentIdFromServer = await _sendOnboardingEnrollment(
           atOnboardingRequest, atAuthKeys, atLookUp!);
       atAuthKeys.enrollmentId = enrollmentIdFromServer;
@@ -142,20 +146,20 @@ class AtAuthImpl implements AtAuth {
       _logger.finer('PkamPublicKey update result: $pkamUpdateResult');
     }
 
-    //3. Close connection to server
+    //4. Close connection to server
     try {
       await (atLookUp as AtLookupImpl).close();
     } on Exception catch (e) {
       _logger.severe('error while closing connection to server: $e');
     }
 
-    //4. Init _atLookUp again and attempt pkam auth
+    //5. Init _atLookUp again and attempt pkam auth
     // atLookUp = AtLookupImpl(atOnboardingRequest.atSign,
     //     atOnboardingRequest.rootDomain, atOnboardingRequest.rootPort);
     atLookUp!.atChops = atChops;
 
     var isPkamAuthenticated = false;
-    //5. Do pkam auth
+    //6. Do pkam auth
     pkamAuthenticator ??=
         PkamAuthenticator(atOnboardingRequest.atSign, atLookUp!);
     try {
@@ -169,7 +173,8 @@ class AtAuthImpl implements AtAuth {
       throw AtAuthenticationException('Pkam auth returned false');
     }
 
-    //5. If Pkam auth is success, update encryption public key to secondary and delete cram key from server
+    //7. If Pkam auth is success, update encryption public key to secondary
+    // and delete cram key from server
     final encryptionPublicKey = atAuthKeys.defaultEncryptionPublicKey;
     UpdateVerbBuilder updateBuilder = UpdateVerbBuilder()
       ..atKey = 'publickey'
@@ -178,7 +183,8 @@ class AtAuthImpl implements AtAuth {
       ..sharedBy = atOnboardingRequest.atSign;
     String? encryptKeyUpdateResult = await atLookUp!.executeVerb(updateBuilder);
     _logger.info('Encryption public key update result $encryptKeyUpdateResult');
-    // deleting cram secret from the keystore as cram auth is complete
+
+    //8.  Delete cram secret from the keystore as cram auth is complete
     DeleteVerbBuilder deleteBuilder = DeleteVerbBuilder()
       ..atKey = AtConstants.atCramSecret;
     String? deleteResponse = await atLookUp!.executeVerb(deleteBuilder);
diff --git a/packages/at_lookup/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/at_lookup/CHANGELOG.md
index 58c6b83b..b8a36f6a 100644
--- a/packages/at_lookup/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/at_lookup/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+## 3.0.42
+- fix: more informative exception messages
 ## 3.0.41
 - feat: introduce methods cramAuthenticate and close into the AtLookup interface
 - deprecate: authenticate_cram() from AtLookupImpl. [cramAuthenticate should be used instead]
diff --git a/packages/at_lookup/lib/src/cache/cacheable_secondary_address_finder.dart b/packages/at_lookup/lib/src/cache/cacheable_secondary_address_finder.dart
index c2ce09de..dc74cef9 100644
--- a/packages/at_lookup/lib/src/cache/cacheable_secondary_address_finder.dart
+++ b/packages/at_lookup/lib/src/cache/cacheable_secondary_address_finder.dart
@@ -150,35 +150,37 @@ class SecondaryUrlFinder {
       // then the secondary domain name will be deemed to be the portion of rootDomain after 'proxy:'
       // and the secondary port will be deemed to be the rootPort
       return '${_rootDomain.substring("proxy:".length)}:$_rootPort';
-    } else {
-      String? address;
-      for (int i = 0; i <= retryDelaysMillis.length; i++) {
-        try {
-          address = await _findSecondary(atSign);
-          return address;
-        } catch (e) {
-          if (i == retryDelaysMillis.length) {
-            _logger.severe('AtLookup.findSecondary $atSign failed with $e'
-                ' : ${retryDelaysMillis.length + 1} failures, giving up');
-            rethrow;
-          } else {
-            _logger.info('AtLookup.findSecondary $atSign failed with $e'
-                ' : will retry in ${retryDelaysMillis[i]} milliseconds');
-            await Future.delayed(Duration(milliseconds: retryDelaysMillis[i]));
-          }
+    }
+    String? address;
+    for (int i = 0; i <= retryDelaysMillis.length; i++) {
+      try {
+        address = await _findSecondary(atSign);
+        return address;
+      } catch (e) {
+        if (i < retryDelaysMillis.length) {
+          _logger.info('AtLookup.findSecondary for $atSign failed with $e'
+              ' : will retry in ${retryDelaysMillis[i]} milliseconds');
+          await Future.delayed(Duration(milliseconds: retryDelaysMillis[i]));
+          continue;
+        }
+        _logger.severe('AtLookup.findSecondary for $atSign failed with $e'
+            ' : ${retryDelaysMillis.length + 1} failures, giving up');
+        if (e is RootServerConnectivityException) {
+          throw RootServerConnectivityException(
+              'Unable to establish connection with root server.'
+              ' Please check your internet connection and try again');
         }
       }
-      throw AtConnectException(
-          'CacheableSecondaryAddressFinder.SecondaryUrlFinder.findSecondaryUrl'
-          ' : ${retryDelaysMillis.length + 1} failures, giving up');
     }
+    throw AtConnectException('Could not fetch secondary address for $atSign :'
+        ' ${retryDelaysMillis.length + 1} failures, giving up');
   }
 
   Future<String?> _findSecondary(String atsign) async {
     String? response;
     SecureSocket? socket;
     try {
-      _logger.finer('AtLookup.findSecondary received atsign: $atsign');
+      _logger.finer('findSecondaryUrl: received atsign: $atsign');
       if (atsign.startsWith('@')) atsign = atsign.replaceFirst('@', '');
       var answer = '';
       String? secondary;
@@ -188,7 +190,7 @@ class SecondaryUrlFinder {
 
       socket = await _socketFactory.createSocket(
           _rootDomain, '$_rootPort', SecureSocketConfig());
-
+      _logger.finer('findSecondaryUrl: connection to root server established');
       // listen to the received data event stream
       socket.listen((List<int> event) async {
         _logger.finest('root socket listener received: $event');
@@ -221,7 +223,7 @@ class SecondaryUrlFinder {
           await socket.flush();
           socket.destroy();
           _logger.finer(
-              'AtLookup.findSecondary got answer: $secondary and closing connection');
+              'findSecondaryUrl got answer: $secondary and closing connection');
           return response;
         }
       }
@@ -230,8 +232,10 @@ class SecondaryUrlFinder {
       socket.destroy();
       throw AtTimeoutException('AtLookup.findSecondary timed out');
     } on SocketException catch (se) {
+      _logger.severe(
+          '_findSecondary caught exception [$se] while connecting to root server url');
       throw RootServerConnectivityException(
-          '_findSecondary caught exception [$se] while connecting to root server url $_rootDomain on port $_rootPort');
+          'Could not connect to Root Server at $_rootDomain:$_rootPort');
     } on Exception catch (exception) {
       _logger.severe('AtLookup.findSecondary connection to ' +
           _rootDomain +
@@ -246,7 +250,7 @@ class SecondaryUrlFinder {
           exception.toString());
     } catch (error, stackTrace) {
       _logger.severe(
-          'AtLookup.findSecondary connection to root server failed with error: $error');
+          'findSecondaryUrl: connection to root server failed with error: $error');
       _logger.severe(stackTrace);
       if (socket != null) {
         socket.destroy();
diff --git a/packages/at_lookup/pubspec.yaml b/packages/at_lookup/pubspec.yaml
index 7245a04b..93615a49 100644
--- a/packages/at_lookup/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/packages/at_lookup/pubspec.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name: at_lookup
 description: A Dart library that contains the core commands that can be used with a secondary server (scan, update, lookup, llookup, plookup, etc.)
-version: 3.0.38
+version: 3.0.42
 repository: https://github.com/atsign-foundation/at_libraries
 homepage: https://atsign.com
 documentation: https://docs.atsign.com/