diff --git a/common/estring.cpp b/common/estring.cpp
index 2498c14d..54166380 100644
--- a/common/estring.cpp
+++ b/common/estring.cpp
@@ -55,36 +55,39 @@ size_t estring_view::find_last_not_of(const charset& set) const
 
 bool estring_view::to_uint64_check(uint64_t* v) const
 {
-    uint64_t val = 0;
-    for (unsigned char c : *this) {
+    if (this->empty()) return false;
+    uint64_t val = (*this)[0] - '0';
+    if (val > 9) return false;
+    for (unsigned char c : this->substr(1)) {
         c -= '0';
-        if (c > 9)
-            return false;
+        if (c > 9) break;
         val = val * 10 + c;
     }
     if (v) *v = val;
     return true;
 }
 
-uint64_t estring_view::hex_to_uint64() const {
-    uint64_t ret = 0;
-    for (unsigned char c : *this) {
-        unsigned char cc = c - '0';
-        if (cc < 10) {
-            ret = ret * 16 + cc;
-        } else {
-            const unsigned char mask = 'a' - 'A';
-            static_assert(mask == 32, "..."); // single digit
-            c |= mask; // unified to 'a'..'f'
-            cc = c - 'a';
-            if (cc < 6) {
-                ret = ret * 16 + cc + 10;
-            } else {
-                break; // invalid char
-            }
-        }
+inline char hex_char_to_digit(char c) {
+    unsigned char cc = c - '0';
+    if (cc < 10) return cc;
+    const unsigned char mask = 'a' - 'A';
+    static_assert(mask == 32, "..."); // single digit
+    c |= mask; // unified to 'a'..'f'
+    cc = c - 'a';
+    return (cc < 6) ? (cc + 10) : -1;
+}
+
+bool estring_view::hex_to_uint64_check(uint64_t* v) const {
+    if (this->empty()) return false;
+    uint64_t val = hex_char_to_digit((*this)[0]);
+    if (val == -1ul) return false;
+    for (unsigned char c : this->substr(1)) {
+        auto d = hex_char_to_digit(c);
+        if (d == -1) break;
+        val = val * 16 + d;
     }
-    return ret;
+    if (v) *v = val;
+    return true;
 }
 
 estring& estring::append(uint64_t x)
diff --git a/common/estring.h b/common/estring.h
index 50d1024a..cdd90af7 100644
--- a/common/estring.h
+++ b/common/estring.h
@@ -318,8 +318,13 @@ class estring_view : public std::string_view
         double val;
         return to_double_check(&val) ? val : default_val;
     }
-    // do not support 0x/0X prefix
-    uint64_t hex_to_uint64() const;
+    // not including 0x/0X prefix
+    bool hex_to_uint64_check(uint64_t* v = nullptr) const;
+    uint64_t hex_to_uint64(uint64_t default_val = 0) const
+    {
+        uint64_t val;
+        return hex_to_uint64_check(&val) ? val : default_val;
+    }
 };
 
 inline bool operator == (const std::string_view& sv, const std::string& s)
diff --git a/net/http/message.cpp b/net/http/message.cpp
index 82ffbd22..481c059f 100644
--- a/net/http/message.cpp
+++ b/net/http/message.cpp
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ int Response::parse_status_line(Parser &p) {
     p.skip_chars(' ');
     auto code = p.extract_integer();
     if (code <= 0 || code >= 1000)
-        LOG_ERROR_RETURN(0, -1, "invalid status code");
+        LOG_ERROR_RETURN(0, -1, "invalid status code ", code);
     m_status_code = (uint16_t)code;
     p.skip_chars(' ');
     m_status_message = p.extract_until_char('\r');
diff --git a/net/http/test/client_function_test.cpp b/net/http/test/client_function_test.cpp
index 7af2d2df..062f34c0 100644
--- a/net/http/test/client_function_test.cpp
+++ b/net/http/test/client_function_test.cpp
@@ -413,9 +413,9 @@ TEST(http_client, debug) {
     server->setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEPORT, 1);
     server->set_handler({nullptr, &chunked_handler_debug});
     auto ret = server->bind(ep.port, ep.addr);
-    if (ret < 0) LOG_ERROR(VALUE(errno));
+    if (ret < 0) LOG_ERROR(ERRNO());
     ret |= server->listen(100);
-    if (ret < 0) LOG_ERROR(VALUE(errno));
+    if (ret < 0) LOG_ERROR(ERRNO());
     EXPECT_EQ(0, ret);
     LOG_INFO("Ready to accept");
     server->start_loop();
@@ -438,13 +438,13 @@ TEST(http_client, debug) {
     memset((void*)buf.data(), '0', std_data_size);
     ret = op_test->resp.read((void*)buf.data(), std_data_size);
     EXPECT_EQ(std_data_size, ret);
-    EXPECT_EQ(true, buf == std_data);
+    EXPECT_TRUE(buf == std_data);
     for (int i = 0; i < buf.size(); i++) {
         if (buf[i] != std_data[i]) {
-            std::cout << i << std::endl;
+            LOG_ERROR("first occurrence of difference at: ", i);
+            break;
         }
     }
-    std::cout << "new" << std::endl;
 }
 int sleep_handler(void*, ISocketStream* sock) {
     photon::thread_sleep(3);
diff --git a/net/utils.cpp b/net/utils.cpp
index e1de9661..82985ffb 100644
--- a/net/utils.cpp
+++ b/net/utils.cpp
@@ -101,22 +101,25 @@ int _gethostbyname(const char* name, Delegate<int, IPAddr> append_op) {
     return idx;
 }
 
-inline __attribute__((always_inline)) void base64_translate_3to4(const char *in, char *out)  {
-    struct xlator {
-        unsigned char _;
-        unsigned char a : 6;
-        unsigned char b : 6;
-        unsigned char c : 6;
-        unsigned char d : 6;
-    } __attribute__((packed));
-    static_assert(sizeof(xlator) == 4, "...");
+struct xlator {
+    unsigned char _;
+    unsigned char a : 6;
+    unsigned char b : 6;
+    unsigned char c : 6;
+    unsigned char d : 6;
+} __attribute__((packed));
+static_assert(sizeof(xlator) == 4, "...");
+
+inline __attribute__((always_inline))
+void base64_translate_3to4(const char *in, char *out)  {
     static const unsigned char tbl[] =
         "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
     auto v = htonl(*(uint32_t *)in);
-    auto x = *(xlator *)(&v);
-    *(uint32_t *)out = ((tbl[x.a] << 24) + (tbl[x.b] << 16) +
-                        (tbl[x.c] << 8) + (tbl[x.d] << 0));
+    auto x = (xlator*) &v;
+    *(uint32_t *)out = ((tbl[x->a] << 24) + (tbl[x->b] << 16) +
+                        (tbl[x->c] << 8) + (tbl[x->d] << 0));
 }
+
 void Base64Encode(std::string_view in, std::string &out) {
     auto main = in.size() / 3;
     auto remain = in.size() % 3;
@@ -137,7 +140,6 @@ void Base64Encode(std::string_view in, std::string &out) {
         base64_translate_3to4(_in + 9, _out + 12);
     }
 
-
     for (; _in < end; _in += 3, _out += 4) {
         base64_translate_3to4(_in, _out);
     }
@@ -191,16 +193,8 @@ static unsigned char get_index_of(char val, bool &ok) {
 }
  #undef EI
 
+inline
 bool base64_translate_4to3(const char *in, char *out)  {
-    struct xlator {
-        unsigned char _;
-        unsigned char a : 6;
-        unsigned char b : 6;
-        unsigned char c : 6;
-        unsigned char d : 6;
-    } __attribute__((packed));
-    static_assert(sizeof(xlator) == 4, "...");
-
     xlator v;
     bool f1, f2, f3, f4;
     v.a = get_index_of(*(in+3), f1);
@@ -208,10 +202,10 @@ bool base64_translate_4to3(const char *in, char *out)  {
     v.c = get_index_of(*(in+1), f3);
     v.d = get_index_of(*(in),   f4);
 
-
     *(uint32_t *)out = ntohl(*(uint32_t *)&v);
     return (f1 && f2 && f3 && f4);
 }
+
 bool Base64Decode(std::string_view in, std::string &out) {
 #define GSIZE 4 //Size of each group
     auto in_size = in.size();