diff --git a/hbc b/hbc
index 2249b2f..21d13ae 100755
--- a/hbc
+++ b/hbc
@@ -331,7 +331,12 @@ def process():
 				conn = conIds[rfh]
 				data, addr = ifiles[rfh].recvfrom(MAXRECV)
 #				if verbose: print("sock.recvfrom: %s (%s) %s" % (addr, len(data), data[:4]))
-				msgDict = stodict(data)
+				try:
+					msgDict = stodict(data)
+				except Exception as e:
+					print("failed to parse incoming data from %s: " % (addr, data))
+					continue
+				
 				if verbose: print("sock.recvfrom: %s (%s) %s" % (addr, len(data), str(msgDict)[:80]))
 				if msgDict == None:
 					 print("bad backet from %s (%s) %s" % (addr, len(data), data))