Index: commonmod.scm
==================================================================
--- commonmod.scm
+++ commonmod.scm
@@ -2702,18 +2702,22 @@
 (define (common:unix-ping hostname)
   (let ((res (system (conc "ping -c 1 " hostname " > /dev/null"))))
     (eq? res 0)))
 
 (define (launch:is-test-alive host pid)
-  (if (and host pid (not (equal? host "n/a")))
-      (let* ((cmd (conc "ssh " host " pstree -A " pid))
-	     (output (with-input-from-pipe cmd read-lines)))
-	(debug:print 2 *default-log-port* "Running " cmd " received " output)
-	(if (eq? (length output) 0)
-	   #f
-	   #t))
-      #t))
+  (let* ((same-host (equal? host (get-host-name)))
+	 (cmd (conc 
+	       (if same-host "" (conc "ssh "host" "))
+	       "pstree -A "pid)))
+    (if (and host pid
+	     (not (equal? host "n/a")))
+	(let* ((output (with-input-from-pipe cmd read-lines)))
+	  (debug:print 2 *default-log-port* "Running " cmd " received " output)
+	  (if (eq? (length output) 0)
+	      #f
+	      #t))
+	#t))) ;; assuming bad query is about a live test is likely not the right thing to do?
 
 (define (common:get-num-cpus remote-host)
   (let* ((actual-host (or remote-host (get-host-name))))
     ;; hosts had better not be changing the number of cpus too often!
     (or (hash-table-ref/default *numcpus-cache* actual-host #f)

Index: launchmod.scm
==================================================================
--- launchmod.scm
+++ launchmod.scm
@@ -1909,11 +1909,11 @@
 	    (rmt:set-var run-id (conc "end-of-run-" run-id) "yes")
 					;(thread-sleep! 10)
 	    (runs:run-post-hook run-id)
 	    (debug:print 4 *default-log-port* "currseconds: " (current-seconds)" eor: " (rmt:get-var run-id (conc "end-of-run-" run-id)))
 	    (common:simple-unlock (conc "endOfRun" run-id)))
-	  (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "End of Run Detected but not running post hook. This should happen when eor is set to yes. This will happen only when 2 tests exit at smae time. eor= " (rmt:get-var run-id (conc "end-of-run-" run-id)))))
+	  (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "End of Run Detected but not running post hook. This should happen when eor is set to yes. This will happen only when 2 tests exit at same time. eor= " (rmt:get-var run-id (conc "end-of-run-" run-id)))))
      ((> running-cnt 3) 
       (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "There are " running-cnt " tests running." ))
      ((> running-cnt 0)
       (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "running cnt > 0 but <= 3 kill-running-tests-if-dead" )
       (let ((kill-cnt (launch:kill-tests-if-dead run-id)))
@@ -1932,34 +1932,34 @@
 
 (define (runs:find-and-mark-incomplete-and-check-end-of-run run-id ovr-deadtime)
   (rmt:find-and-mark-incomplete run-id ovr-deadtime)
   (runs:end-of-run-check run-id))
 
-
-
+;; only called if there are more than zero running tests
 (define (launch:kill-tests-if-dead run-id)
   (let* ((running-tests (rmt:get-tests-for-run run-id "%" `("RUNNING" "LAUNCHED" "REMOTEHOSTSTART") `() #f #f #f #f #f #f #f #f)))
-       (let loop ((running-test (car running-tests))
-			     (tal    (cdr running-tests))
-			     (kill-cnt 0))
-		       (let* ((test-name (vector-ref running-test 2))
-                 (item-path (vector-ref running-test 11))
-								 (test-id (vector-ref running-test 0))
-                 (host (vector-ref running-test 6))
-                 (pid  (rmt:test-get-top-process-pid run-id test-id))   
-                 (event-time (vector-ref running-test 5))
-                 (duration (vector-ref running-test 12))
-                 (flag 0)   
-                 (curr-time (current-seconds)))
-       (if (and (< (+ event-time duration 600) curr-time) (not (launch:is-test-alive host pid))) ;;test has not updated duration in last 10 min then likely its not running but confirm before marking it as killed
-           (begin    
-			       	(debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "test " test-name "/" item-path " needs to be killed")
+    (let loop ((running-test (car running-tests))
+	       (tal          (cdr running-tests))
+	       (kill-cnt     0))
+      (let* ((test-name  (vector-ref running-test 2))
+             (item-path  (vector-ref running-test 11))
+	     (test-id    (vector-ref running-test 0))
+             (host       (vector-ref running-test 6))
+             (pid        (rmt:test-get-top-process-pid run-id test-id))   
+             (event-time (vector-ref running-test 5))
+             (duration   (vector-ref running-test 12))
+             (flag       0)   
+             (curr-time  (current-seconds)))
+	(if (and (< (+ event-time duration 600) curr-time)
+		 (not (launch:is-test-alive host pid))) ;;test has not updated duration in last 10 min then likely its not running but confirm before marking it as killed
+            (begin    
+	      (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "test " test-name "/" item-path " needs to be killed")
               (set! flag 1) 
               (rmt:set-state-status-and-roll-up-items run-id test-name item-path "KILLREQ" "n/a" #f)))
-               (if (not (null? tal))
-				  (loop (car tal) (cdr tal) (+ kill-cnt flag))
-                 (+ kill-cnt flag))))))
+        (if (not (null? tal))
+	    (loop (car tal) (cdr tal) (+ kill-cnt flag))
+            (+ kill-cnt flag))))))
 
 
 (define (runs:run-post-hook run-id)
     (let* ((run-post-hook   (configf:lookup *configdat* "runs" "post-hook"))
            (existing-tests (if run-post-hook