diff --git a/src/server/slavefuncs.c b/src/server/slavefuncs.c
--- a/src/server/slavefuncs.c
+++ b/src/server/slavefuncs.c
@@ -47,14 +47,20 @@ int sendSignal(struct remoteio *rem, int
 
   _distren_asprintf(&ssignal, "%d", signal);
   towrite = strlen(ssignal);
-  while( !remoteio_write(rem, ssignal, towrite, &written)
-	 && towrite
-	 && written)
+  while( towrite
+	 && !remoteio_write(rem, ssignal, towrite, &written))
     {
       printf(stderr, "Writing...");
       towrite -= written;
     }
-  return 0;
+  if(written)
+    return 0;
+
+  /**
+     if remoteio_write returned 1, the connection
+     is probably dead or there was a real error
+   */
+  return 1;
 }
 /**
  utility function for XPath-ish stuff: