diff --git a/viewer/svutil.cpp b/viewer/svutil.cpp
index c41bf04093..80e11019e5 100644
--- a/viewer/svutil.cpp
+++ b/viewer/svutil.cpp
@@ -422,6 +422,7 @@ SVNetwork::SVNetwork(const char* hostname, int port) {
     // Wait for server to show up.
     // Note: There is no exception handling in case the server never turns up.
 
+    Close();
     stream_ = socket(addr_info->ai_family, addr_info->ai_socktype,
                    addr_info->ai_protocol);
 
@@ -434,6 +435,7 @@ SVNetwork::SVNetwork(const char* hostname, int port) {
       sleep(1);
 #endif
 
+      Close();
       stream_ = socket(addr_info->ai_family, addr_info->ai_socktype,
                    addr_info->ai_protocol);
     }