diff -r e6034a500e27 -r 617cd51dfee5 src/neon/neon.c
--- a/src/neon/neon.c	Wed May 06 12:11:06 2009 -0400
+++ b/src/neon/neon.c	Wed May 06 12:10:28 2009 -0500
@@ -990,7 +990,7 @@
     }
 
     if (NULL == h->reader) {
-        if (NEON_READER_EOF != h->reader_status.status) {
+        if (NEON_READER_EOF != h->reader_status.status && NEON_READER_ERROR != h->reader_status.status) {
             /*
              * There is no reader thread yet. Read the first bytes from
              * the network ourselves, and then fire up the reader thread