Index: common.scm
==================================================================
--- common.scm
+++ common.scm
@@ -1593,22 +1593,25 @@
      (with-output-to-file fullpath (lambda ()(pp dat))))))
 
 ;; get cpu load by reading from /proc/loadavg, return all three values
 ;;
 (define (common:get-cpu-load remote-host)
-  (let* ((actual-hostname (or remote-host (get-host-name) "localhost")))
-    (or (common:get-cached-info actual-hostname "cpu-load")
-	(let ((result (if remote-host
-			  (map (lambda (res)
-				 (if (eof-object? res) 9e99 res))
-			       (with-input-from-pipe 
-				   (conc "ssh " remote-host " cat /proc/loadavg")
+  (handle-exceptions
+   exn
+   '(99 99 99)
+   (let* ((actual-hostname (or remote-host (get-host-name) "localhost")))
+     (or (common:get-cached-info actual-hostname "cpu-load")
+	 (let ((result (if remote-host
+			   (map (lambda (res)
+				  (if (eof-object? res) 9e99 res))
+			        (with-input-from-pipe 
+				 (conc "ssh " remote-host " cat /proc/loadavg")
 				 (lambda ()(list (read)(read)(read)))))
-			  (with-input-from-file "/proc/loadavg" 
-			    (lambda ()(list (read)(read)(read)))))))
-	  (common:write-cached-info actual-hostname "cpu-load" result)
-	  result))))
+			   (with-input-from-file "/proc/loadavg" 
+			     (lambda ()(list (read)(read)(read)))))))
+	   (common:write-cached-info actual-hostname "cpu-load" result)
+	                     result)))))
 
 ;; 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
 ;;

Index: launch.scm
==================================================================
--- launch.scm
+++ launch.scm
@@ -413,12 +413,14 @@
           (set! kill-job? #t))
          ((and runtlim (> (- (current-seconds) start-seconds) runtlim))
           (set! kill-reason (conc "KILLING TEST DUE TO TIME LIMIT EXCEEDED! Runtime=" (- (current-seconds) start-seconds) " seconds, limit=" runtlim))
           (set! kill-job? #t))
          ((equal? status "DEAD")
-          (set! kill-reason "KILLING TEST because it was marked as DEAD by launch:handle-zombie-tests (might indicate really overloaded server or else overzealous setup.deadtime)")
-          (set! kill-job? #t)))
+          (tests:update-central-meta-info run-id test-id new-cpu-load new-disk-free (calc-minutes) #f #f)
+          (rmt:set-state-status-and-roll-up-items run-id test-id 'foo "RUNNING" "n/a" "was marked dead; really still running.")
+          ;;(set! kill-reason "KILLING TEST because it was marked as DEAD by launch:handle-zombie-tests (might indicate really overloaded server or else overzealous setup.deadtime)") ;; MARK RUNNING
+          (set! kill-job? #f)))
 
         (debug:print 4 *default-log-port* "cpu: " new-cpu-load " disk: " new-disk-free " last-sync: " last-sync " do-sync: " do-sync)
         (launch:handle-zombie-tests run-id)
         (when do-sync
           ;;(with-output-to-file (conc (getenv "MT_TEST_RUN_DIR") "/last-loadinfo.log" #:append)