Thank you, this fixed the problem.
I changed the line in /etc/inetd.conf to remove the -d flag,
smtp stream tcp nowait mail /usr/sbin/exim exim -bs
then did
killall -HUP inetd
to make inetd reread the conf file and that did the trick.
>>>>> "Philip" == ph10 <ph10@???> writes:
Philip> Hello. Your Exim is running with debugging turned on, and is sending
Philip> debugging messages down the SMTP connection. This is causing incoming
Philip> mail to fail.
Philip> Philip Hazel