diff --git a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/find_coordinator.go b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/find_coordinator.go
index 7eb172c4c..a5123666a 100644
--- a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/find_coordinator.go
+++ b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/find_coordinator.go
@@ -8,80 +8,80 @@ import (
 func (h *Handler) handleFindCoordinator(correlationID uint32, requestBody []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 	// Parse FindCoordinator request
 	// Request format: client_id + coordinator_key + coordinator_type(1)
-	
+
 	// DEBUG: Hex dump the request to understand format
 	dumpLen := len(requestBody)
 	if dumpLen > 50 {
 		dumpLen = 50
 	}
 	fmt.Printf("DEBUG: FindCoordinator request hex dump (first %d bytes): %x\n", dumpLen, requestBody[:dumpLen])
-	
+
 	if len(requestBody) < 2 { // client_id_size(2)
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("FindCoordinator request too short")
 	}
-	
+
 	// Skip client_id
 	clientIDSize := binary.BigEndian.Uint16(requestBody[0:2])
 	fmt.Printf("DEBUG: FindCoordinator client_id_size: %d\n", clientIDSize)
 	offset := 2 + int(clientIDSize)
-	
+
 	if len(requestBody) < offset+3 { // coordinator_key_size(2) + coordinator_type(1)
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("FindCoordinator request missing data (need %d bytes, have %d)", offset+3, len(requestBody))
 	}
-	
+
 	// Parse coordinator key (group ID for consumer groups)
 	coordinatorKeySize := binary.BigEndian.Uint16(requestBody[offset : offset+2])
 	fmt.Printf("DEBUG: FindCoordinator coordinator_key_size: %d, offset: %d\n", coordinatorKeySize, offset)
 	offset += 2
-	
+
 	if len(requestBody) < offset+int(coordinatorKeySize) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("FindCoordinator request missing coordinator key (need %d bytes, have %d)", offset+int(coordinatorKeySize), len(requestBody))
 	}
-	
+
 	coordinatorKey := string(requestBody[offset : offset+int(coordinatorKeySize)])
 	offset += int(coordinatorKeySize)
-	
+
 	// Coordinator type is optional in some versions, default to 0 (group coordinator)
 	var coordinatorType byte = 0
 	if offset < len(requestBody) {
 		coordinatorType = requestBody[offset]
 	}
 	_ = coordinatorType // 0 = group coordinator, 1 = transaction coordinator
-	
+
 	fmt.Printf("DEBUG: FindCoordinator request for key '%s' (type: %d)\n", coordinatorKey, coordinatorType)
-	
+
 	response := make([]byte, 0, 64)
-	
+
 	// Correlation ID
 	correlationIDBytes := make([]byte, 4)
 	binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(correlationIDBytes, correlationID)
 	response = append(response, correlationIDBytes...)
-	
+
 	// FindCoordinator v0 Response Format (no throttle_time or error_message):
 	// - error_code (INT16)
-	// - node_id (INT32) 
+	// - node_id (INT32)
 	// - host (STRING)
 	// - port (INT32)
-	
+
 	// Error code (2 bytes, 0 = no error)
 	response = append(response, 0, 0)
-	
+
 	// Coordinator node_id (4 bytes) - use broker 0 (this gateway)
 	response = append(response, 0, 0, 0, 0)
-	
+
 	// Coordinator host (string)
 	host := h.brokerHost
 	hostLen := uint16(len(host))
 	response = append(response, byte(hostLen>>8), byte(hostLen))
 	response = append(response, []byte(host)...)
-	
+
 	// Coordinator port (4 bytes)
 	portBytes := make([]byte, 4)
 	binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(portBytes, uint32(h.brokerPort))
 	response = append(response, portBytes...)
-	
+
 	fmt.Printf("DEBUG: FindCoordinator response: coordinator at %s:%d\n", host, h.brokerPort)
 	fmt.Printf("DEBUG: FindCoordinator response hex dump (%d bytes): %x\n", len(response), response)
-	
+
 	return response, nil
 }
diff --git a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/handler.go b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/handler.go
index 27a2e4e39..24ed3db64 100644
--- a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/handler.go
+++ b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/handler.go
@@ -226,7 +226,13 @@ func (h *Handler) HandleConn(conn net.Conn) error {
 		case 1: // Fetch
 			response, err = h.handleFetch(correlationID, messageBuf[8:]) // skip header
 		case 11: // JoinGroup
-			response, err = h.handleJoinGroup(correlationID, messageBuf[8:]) // skip header
+			fmt.Printf("DEBUG: *** JOINGROUP REQUEST RECEIVED *** Correlation: %d, Version: %d\n", correlationID, apiVersion)
+			response, err = h.handleJoinGroup(correlationID, apiVersion, messageBuf[8:]) // skip header
+			if err != nil {
+				fmt.Printf("DEBUG: JoinGroup error: %v\n", err)
+			} else {
+				fmt.Printf("DEBUG: JoinGroup response hex dump (%d bytes): %x\n", len(response), response)
+			}
 		case 14: // SyncGroup
 			response, err = h.handleSyncGroup(correlationID, messageBuf[8:]) // skip header
 		case 8: // OffsetCommit
diff --git a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/joingroup.go b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/joingroup.go
index 08aba4451..dc74e60e0 100644
--- a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/joingroup.go
+++ b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/joingroup.go
@@ -57,13 +57,24 @@ const (
 	ErrorCodeFencedInstanceID       int16 = 82
 )
 
-func (h *Handler) handleJoinGroup(correlationID uint32, requestBody []byte) ([]byte, error) {
+func (h *Handler) handleJoinGroup(correlationID uint32, apiVersion uint16, requestBody []byte) ([]byte, error) {
+	// DEBUG: Hex dump the request to understand format
+	dumpLen := len(requestBody)
+	if dumpLen > 100 {
+		dumpLen = 100
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("DEBUG: JoinGroup request hex dump (first %d bytes): %x\n", dumpLen, requestBody[:dumpLen])
+	
 	// Parse JoinGroup request
 	request, err := h.parseJoinGroupRequest(requestBody)
 	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Printf("DEBUG: JoinGroup parseJoinGroupRequest error: %v\n", err)
 		return h.buildJoinGroupErrorResponse(correlationID, ErrorCodeInvalidGroupID), nil
 	}
 	
+	fmt.Printf("DEBUG: JoinGroup parsed request - GroupID: '%s', MemberID: '%s', SessionTimeout: %d\n", 
+		request.GroupID, request.MemberID, request.SessionTimeout)
+	
 	// Validate request
 	if request.GroupID == "" {
 		return h.buildJoinGroupErrorResponse(correlationID, ErrorCodeInvalidGroupID), nil
@@ -185,7 +196,15 @@ func (h *Handler) parseJoinGroupRequest(data []byte) (*JoinGroupRequest, error)
 	
 	offset := 0
 	
+	// Skip client_id (part of request header, not JoinGroup payload)
+	clientIDLength := int(binary.BigEndian.Uint16(data[offset:]))
+	offset += 2 + clientIDLength
+	fmt.Printf("DEBUG: JoinGroup skipped client_id (%d bytes), offset now: %d\n", clientIDLength, offset)
+	
 	// GroupID (string)
+	if offset+2 > len(data) {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("missing group ID length")
+	}
 	groupIDLength := int(binary.BigEndian.Uint16(data[offset:]))
 	offset += 2
 	if offset+groupIDLength > len(data) {
@@ -193,6 +212,7 @@ func (h *Handler) parseJoinGroupRequest(data []byte) (*JoinGroupRequest, error)
 	}
 	groupID := string(data[offset : offset+groupIDLength])
 	offset += groupIDLength
+	fmt.Printf("DEBUG: JoinGroup parsed GroupID: '%s', offset now: %d\n", groupID, offset)
 	
 	// Session timeout (4 bytes)
 	if offset+4 > len(data) {