diff --git a/mercurial/sshrepo.py b/mercurial/sshrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/sshrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/sshrepo.py
@@ -39,12 +39,21 @@ class sshrepository(remoterepository):
         # skip any noise generated by remote shell
         r = self.do_cmd("between", pairs=("%s-%s" % ("0"*40, "0"*40)))
         l1 = ""
-        while 1:
+        l2 = "dummy"
+        max_noise = 100
+        while l2 and max_noise:
             l2 = r.readline()
             self.readerr()
             if l1 == "1\n" and l2 == "\n":
                 break
+            if l1:
+                ui.status(_("remote: %s") % l1)
             l1 = l2
+            max_noise -= 1
+        else:
+            if l1:
+                ui.status(_("remote: %s") % l1)
+            raise hg.RepoError(_("no response from remote hg"))
 
     def readerr(self):
         while 1: