@@ -1523,11 +1523,30 @@
 ;; get normalized cpu load by reading from /proc/loadavg and /proc/cpuinfo return all three values and the number of real cpus and the number of threads
 ;; returns alist '((adj-cpu-load . normalized-proc-load) ... etc.
 ;;  keys: adj-proc-load, adj-core-load, 1m-load, 5m-load, 15m-load
 ;;
 (define (common:get-normalized-cpu-load remote-host)
-  (let ((actual-host (or remote-host (get-host-name)))) ;; #f is localhost
+  (let ((res (common:get-normalized-cpu-load-raw remote-host))
+	(default `((adj-proc-load . 2) ;; there is no right answer
+		   (adj-core-load . 2)
+		   (1m-load       . 2)
+		   (5m-load       . 0) ;; causes a large delta - thus causing default of throttling if stuff goes wrong
+		   (15m-load      . 0)
+		   (proc          . 1)
+		   (core          . 1)
+		   (phys          . 1)
+		   (error         . #t))))
+    (cond
+     ((and (list? res)
+	   (> (length res) 2))
+      res)
+     ((eq? res #f)   default) ;; add messages?
+     ((eq? res #f) default)   ;; this would be the #eof
+     (else default))))
+
+(define (common:get-normalized-cpu-load-raw remote-host)
+  (let* ((actual-host (or remote-host (get-host-name)))) ;; #f is localhost
     (or (common:get-cached-info actual-host "normalized-load")
 	(let ((data (if remote-host
 			(with-input-from-pipe 
 			    (conc "ssh " remote-host " cat /proc/loadavg;cat /proc/cpuinfo;echo end")
 			  read-lines)