Index: common.scm
==================================================================
--- common.scm
+++ common.scm
@@ -414,38 +414,46 @@
 ;; dot-locking egg seems not to work, using this for now
 ;; if lock is older than expire-time then remove it and try again
 ;; to get the lock
 ;;
 (define (common:simple-file-lock fname #!key (expire-time 300))
-  (if (file-exists? fname)
-      (if (> (- (current-seconds)(file-modification-time fname)) expire-time)
-	  (begin
-	    (delete-file* fname)
-	    (common:simple-file-lock fname expire-time: expire-time))
-	  #f)
-      (let ((key-string (conc (get-host-name) "-" (current-process-id))))
-	(with-output-to-file fname
-	  (lambda ()
-	    (print key-string)))
-	(thread-sleep! 0.25)
-	(if (file-exists? fname)
-	    (with-input-from-file fname
-	      (lambda ()
-		(equal? key-string (read-line))))
-	    #f))))
+  (handle-exceptions
+      exn
+      #f ;; don't really care what went wrong right now. NOTE: I have not seen this one actually fail.
+    (if (file-exists? fname)
+	(if (> (- (current-seconds)(file-modification-time fname)) expire-time)
+	    (begin
+	      (delete-file* fname)
+	      (common:simple-file-lock fname expire-time: expire-time))
+	    #f)
+	(let ((key-string (conc (get-host-name) "-" (current-process-id))))
+	  (with-output-to-file fname
+	    (lambda ()
+	      (print key-string)))
+	  (thread-sleep! 0.25)
+	  (if (file-exists? fname)
+	      (with-input-from-file fname
+		(lambda ()
+		  (equal? key-string (read-line))))
+	      #f)))))
 
 (define (common:simple-file-lock-and-wait fname #!key (expire-time 300))
   (let ((end-time (+ expire-time (current-seconds))))
     (let loop ((got-lock (common:simple-file-lock fname expire-time: expire-time)))
       (if got-lock
 	  #t
 	  (if (> end-time (current-seconds))
-	      (loop (common:simple-file-lock fname expire-time: expire-time))
+	      (begin
+		(thread-sleep! 3)
+		(loop (common:simple-file-lock fname expire-time: expire-time)))
 	      #f)))))
 
 (define (common:simple-file-release-lock fname)
-  (delete-file* fname))
+  (handle-exceptions
+      exn
+      #f ;; I don't really care why this failed (at least for now)
+    (delete-file* fname)))
 
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; S T A T E S   A N D   S T A T U S E S
 ;;======================================================================
 

Index: dashboard.scm
==================================================================
--- dashboard.scm
+++ dashboard.scm
@@ -2718,11 +2718,11 @@
 
 (define (dashboard:get-youngest-run-db-mod-time dbdir)
   (handle-exceptions
    exn
    (begin
-     (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "WARNING: error in accessing databases in get-youngest-run-db-mod-time: " ((condition-property-accessor 'exn 'message) exn) " db-dir="dbdir)
+     (debug:print 2 *default-log-port* "WARNING: error in accessing databases in get-youngest-run-db-mod-time: " ((condition-property-accessor 'exn 'message) exn) " db-dir="dbdir)
      (current-seconds)) ;; something went wrong - just print an error and return current-seconds
    (common:max (map (lambda (filen)
 		      (file-modification-time filen))
 		    (glob (conc dbdir "/*.db*"))))))
 

Index: launch.scm
==================================================================
--- launch.scm
+++ launch.scm
@@ -471,11 +471,16 @@
 			    (if (and start-res
 				     ping-res)
 				(let ((url  (http-transport:server-dat-make-url start-res)))
 				  (remote-conndat-set! *runremote* start-res)
 				  (remote-server-url-set! *runremote* url)
-				  (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "connected to " url " using CMDINFO data."))
+				  (if (server:ping url)
+				      (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "connected to " url " using CMDINFO data.")
+				      (begin
+					(debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "have CMDINFO data but failed to connect to " url)
+					(remote-conndat-set! *runremote* #f)
+					(remote-server-url-set! *runremote* #f))))
 				(debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "received " host ":" port " for url but could not connect.")
 				)))))))
 	  ;; NFS might not have propagated the directory meta data to the run host - give it time if needed
 	  (let loop ((count 0))
 	    (if (or (file-exists? top-path)