Realistically, you’re going to have to do some debugging here.   You must be sure that you are, in fact, providing the correct parameters, and you might need to use a network monitoring tool to enable you to see what (if anything...) is being exchanged with the host.   None of us are in any position to do such a thing for you, even if we wanted to, so please do not interpret this as “RTFM.”   We can reasonably be expected to try to help you with very specific questions, but we cannot do your job (and are unlikely to be inclined to try).

For instance, have you carefully followed the examples given in the CPAN entry, particularly with regard to AUTH_MODE ... and ... DEBUG?   Methinks not.

It is reasonable to expect that properties such as Count would be nonsensical until a successful connection was made.