diff --git a/app/services/SeedFetchPool.ts b/app/services/SeedFetchPool.ts
index 45eabfa..8e03b90 100644
--- a/app/services/SeedFetchPool.ts
+++ b/app/services/SeedFetchPool.ts
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ class SeedFetchPool {
             servername: nntpConfig.tlsServername,
             user: nntpConfig.user,
             password: nntpConfig.password?.release(),
-            timeoutMs: nntpConfig.commandTimeoutMs,
+            timeoutMs: indexerConfig.seed.nntpTimeoutMs,
             compress: true,
           })
           return { client, usedAt: Date.now() }
diff --git a/app/services/SeedOrchestrator.ts b/app/services/SeedOrchestrator.ts
index 13efaad..b6dc703 100644
--- a/app/services/SeedOrchestrator.ts
+++ b/app/services/SeedOrchestrator.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,12 @@ class SeedOrchestrator {
    */
   async lease(nodeId: number): Promise<SeedLease | null> {
     if ((await BackfillService.room()) !== true) return null
+    // Fully reported but never finished (the node went away at the very end): nothing left to fetch.
+    await db.rawQuery(
+      `UPDATE seed_ranges SET status = 'done', done_at = now(), node_id = NULL
+       WHERE next_id > end_id AND (status = 'queued' OR (status = 'leased' AND heartbeat_at < now() - make_interval(secs => ?)))`,
+      [LEASE_TTL_SECONDS]
+    )
     // Ranges that broke node after node stop being handed out.
     await db.rawQuery(
       `UPDATE seed_ranges SET status = 'failed', error = coalesce(error, 'lease expired too often')
diff --git a/config/indexer.ts b/config/indexer.ts
index 733104c..acc709b 100644
--- a/config/indexer.ts
+++ b/config/indexer.ts
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ export default {
   seed: {
     /** NNTP connections the seed API fetches with for relay nodes (CONCEPT.md D38); 0: relay off. */
     nntpConnections: env.get('SEED_NNTP_CONNECTIONS', 0),
+    /** A relay XOVER may take this long: some old ranges come at ~1k headers/s (and slower when cold). */
+    nntpTimeoutMs: env.get('SEED_NNTP_TIMEOUT_MS', 10 * 60 * 1000),
   },
 
   backfill: {
diff --git a/lib/seed/runner.ts b/lib/seed/runner.ts
index d23facb..08e8cb5 100644
--- a/lib/seed/runner.ts
+++ b/lib/seed/runner.ts
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ export async function runRange(options: RunRangeOptions): Promise<void> {
   const idle = options.idle ?? 5
   const submitEvery = options.submitEvery ?? 5
   const aggregator = new FileAggregator<IngestSegment>()
+  // A range fully reported before but not finished (its node went away right at the end) resumes past its end.
+  if (options.start > options.end) {
+    await options.sink(emptyBatch(options.end + 1))
+    return
+  }
   await options.client.group(options.group)
 
   const fetch = (from: number) => {
diff --git a/start/env.ts b/start/env.ts
index 8719642..bfc4852 100644
--- a/start/env.ts
+++ b/start/env.ts
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ export default await Env.create(new URL('../', import.meta.url), {
   NNTP_COMMAND_TIMEOUT_MS: Env.schema.number.optional(),
   NNTP_TLS_SERVERNAME: Env.schema.string.optional(),
   SEED_NNTP_CONNECTIONS: Env.schema.number.optional(),
+  SEED_NNTP_TIMEOUT_MS: Env.schema.number.optional(),
 
   // Indexer (config/indexer.ts)
   BACKFILL_MAX_QUEUED: Env.schema.number.optional(),
diff --git a/tests/functional/seed_api.spec.ts b/tests/functional/seed_api.spec.ts
index 3f22ff7..3769b91 100644
--- a/tests/functional/seed_api.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/functional/seed_api.spec.ts
@@ -128,4 +128,11 @@ test.group('Seed API', (group) => {
       indexerConfig.seed.nntpConnections = connections
     }
   })
+
+  test('a range reported to its end but never finished is marked done, not leased', async ({ client, assert }) => {
+    const token = await SeedOrchestrator.issueToken('late-node')
+    const [range] = await db.table('seed_ranges').insert({ group_name: 'alt.binaries.test', start_id: 1, end_id: 100, next_id: 101 }).returning('id')
+    ;(await client.post('/api/v1/seed/lease').headers({ authorization: `Bearer ${token}` })).assertStatus(204)
+    assert.equal((await db.from('seed_ranges').where('id', range.id).first()).status, 'done')
+  })
 })
diff --git a/tests/unit/aggregate.spec.ts b/tests/unit/aggregate.spec.ts
index e1f7c60..fabeada 100644
--- a/tests/unit/aggregate.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/aggregate.spec.ts
@@ -37,3 +37,20 @@ test.group('aggregate / FileAggregator', () => {
     assert.equal(aggregator.openFiles, 0)
   })
 })
+
+test.group('seed / runRange', () => {
+  test('a range already past its end only reports that it is done', async ({ assert }) => {
+    const { runRange } = await import('#lib/seed/runner')
+    const batches: any[] = []
+    await runRange({
+      client: { group: async () => assert.fail('no GROUP'), xover: async () => assert.fail('no XOVER') },
+      group: 'a.b.test',
+      start: 101,
+      end: 100,
+      sink: async (batch) => {
+        batches.push(batch)
+      },
+    })
+    assert.deepEqual(batches.map((b) => [b.next, b.headers, b.files.length]), [[101, 0, 0]])
+  })
+})