Index: tcp-transportmod.scm
==================================================================
--- tcp-transportmod.scm
+++ tcp-transportmod.scm
@@ -246,13 +246,13 @@
 			(pid     (tt-conn-pid  conn))
 			(servinf (conc areapath"/.servinfo/"host":"port"-"pid":"dbfname)))
 		   (hash-table-set! (tt-conns ttdat) dbfname #f)
 		   (if (file-exists? servinf)
 		       (begin
-			 (if (< attemptnum 5)
+			 (if (< attemptnum 3)
 			     (begin
-			       (thread-sleep! 1)
+			       (thread-sleep! 0.25)
 			       (tt:handler ttdat cmd run-id params (+ attemptnum 1) area-dat areapath readonly-mode dbfname testsuite mtexe))
 			     (begin
 			       (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "INFO: no response from server "host":"port" for "dbfname)
 			       (if (and (file-exists? servinf)
 					(> (- (current-seconds)(file-modification-time servinf)) 60))
@@ -260,11 +260,17 @@
 				     (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "INFO: "servinf" file seems old and no ping response, removing it.")
 				     (handle-exceptions
 					 exn
 				       #f
 				       (delete-file* servinf))
-				     (tt:handler ttdat cmd run-id params (+ attemptnum 1) area-dat areapath readonly-mode dbfname testsuite mtexe))))))
+				     (tt:handler ttdat cmd run-id params (+ attemptnum 1) area-dat areapath readonly-mode dbfname testsuite mtexe))
+				   (begin
+				     ;; start server - addressed in client-connect-to-server
+				     ;; delay        - addressed in client-connect-to-server
+				     ;; try again
+				     (tt:handler ttdat cmd run-id params (+ attemptnum 1) area-dat areapath readonly-mode dbfname testsuite mtexe))
+				   ))))
 		       (begin ;; no server file, delay and try again
 			 (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "INFO: connection to server "host":"port" broken for "dbfname", but do not see servinf file "servinf)
 			 (thread-sleep! 1)
 			 (tt:handler ttdat cmd run-id params (+ attemptnum 1) area-dat areapath readonly-mode dbfname testsuite mtexe))))
 		 (begin ;; this case is where res is malformed. Probably should abort
@@ -401,17 +407,22 @@
 	  (tt:backoff-incr host port)
 	  #f)
      (exn (i/o net)
 	  (if ping-mode
 	      #f
-	      (if (>= tries-remaining 0)
-		  (let* ((backoff-delay (* (- 26 tries-remaining) 0.1)))
-		    (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "WARNING: TCP overload, trying again in "backoff-delay"s.")
-		    (thread-sleep! backoff-delay)
-		    (tt:backoff-incr host port)
-		    (retry))
-		  (assert #f "FATAL: Too many retries in tt:send-receive-direct"))))
+	      (cond
+	       ((>  tries-remaining 4) ;; server likely defunct
+		(tt:backoff-incr host port)
+		#f)
+	       ((>= tries-remaining 0)
+		(let* ((backoff-delay (* (- 26 tries-remaining) 0.1)))
+		  (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "WARNING: TCP overload, trying again in "backoff-delay"s.")
+		  (thread-sleep! backoff-delay)
+		  (tt:backoff-incr host port)
+		  (retry))
+		(assert #f "FATAL: Too many retries in tt:send-receive-direct"))
+	       (else #f))))
      (exn ()
 	  (full-err-print exn "Unhandled exception from client side.")
 	  #f))))
 
 
@@ -650,11 +661,11 @@
 	(bad-dat      (list #f #f #f #f #f #f logf)))
      (let ((fdat     (handle-exceptions
 			 exn
 		       (begin
 			 ;; WARNING: this is potentially dangerous to blanket ignore the errors
-			 (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Unable to get server info from "logf", exn=" exn)
+			 (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Unable to get server info from "logf", exn="(condition->list exn))
 			 '()) ;; no idea what went wrong, call it a bad server, return empty list
 		       (with-input-from-file logf read-lines))))
        (if (null? fdat) ;; bad data, return bad-dat
 	   bad-dat
 	   (let loop ((inl  (car fdat))
@@ -744,12 +755,18 @@
 				(exn-result    #f)
 				(stdout-result (with-output-to-string
 						 (lambda ()
 						   (let ((res (handle-exceptions
 								  exn
-								(begin
-								  (set! exn-result (condition->list exn))
+								(let* ((errdat (condition->list exn)))
+								  (set! exn-result errdat)
+								  (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "ERROR: handler exception, these are bad, will exit in five seconds.")
+								  (pp errdat *default-log-port*)
+								  ;; these are always bad, set up an exit thread
+								  (thread-start! (make-thread (lambda ()
+												(thread-sleep! 5)
+												(exit))))
 								  #f)
 								(handler indat))))
 						     (set! result res)))))
 				(full-result (list result exn-result (if (equal? stdout-result "") #f stdout-result))))
 			   (handle-exceptions