Index: trunk/Ohana/src/opihi/pcontrol/KillJob.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/Ohana/src/opihi/pcontrol/KillJob.c	(revision 17476)
+++ trunk/Ohana/src/opihi/pcontrol/KillJob.c	(revision 17477)
@@ -50,5 +50,10 @@
   /** check on response to pclient command **/
   p = memstr (buffer[0].buffer, "STATUS", buffer[0].Nbuffer);
-  ASSERT (p != NULL, "missing STATUS in pclient message");
+  if (p == NULL) {
+      if (VerboseMode()) gprint (GP_ERR, "missing STATUS in response; try again\n");
+      PutHost (host, PCONTROL_HOST_BUSY, STACK_BOTTOM);
+      PutJob (job, PCONTROL_JOB_KILL, STACK_BOTTOM);
+      return (FALSE);
+  }
   if (VerboseMode()) gprint (GP_ERR, "client message: %s\n", buffer[0].buffer);