diff --git a/src/allreduce_base.cc b/src/allreduce_base.cc
index f90e5d621..4c30b62d2 100644
--- a/src/allreduce_base.cc
+++ b/src/allreduce_base.cc
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ void AllreduceBase::SetParam(const char *name, const char *val) {
  * \brief connect to the master to fix the the missing links
  *   this function is also used when the engine start up
  */
-void AllreduceBase::ReConnectLinks(void) {
+void AllreduceBase::ReConnectLinks(const char *cmd) {
   // single node mode
   if (master_uri == "NULL") {
     rank = 0; return;
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ void AllreduceBase::ReConnectLinks(void) {
   utils::Check(magic == kMagic, "sync::Invalid master message, init failure");
   utils::Assert(master.SendAll(&rank, sizeof(rank)) == sizeof(rank), "ReConnectLink failure 3");
   master.SendStr(job_id);
-  master.SendStr(std::string("start"));
+  master.SendStr(std::string(cmd));
   {// get new ranks
     int newrank;
     utils::Assert(master.RecvAll(&newrank, sizeof(newrank)) == sizeof(newrank),
diff --git a/src/allreduce_base.h b/src/allreduce_base.h
index 436916cda..cd9a5b0d0 100644
--- a/src/allreduce_base.h
+++ b/src/allreduce_base.h
@@ -227,8 +227,9 @@ class AllreduceBase : public IEngine {
   /*!
    * \brief connect to the master to fix the the missing links
    *   this function is also used when the engine start up
+   * \param cmd possible command to sent to master
    */
-  void ReConnectLinks(void);
+  void ReConnectLinks(const char *cmd = "start");
   /*!
    * \brief perform in-place allreduce, on sendrecvbuf, this function can fail, and will return the cause of failure
    *
diff --git a/src/allreduce_robust.cc b/src/allreduce_robust.cc
index d2339a3be..6aba63e82 100644
--- a/src/allreduce_robust.cc
+++ b/src/allreduce_robust.cc
@@ -281,14 +281,6 @@ AllreduceRobust::ReturnType AllreduceRobust::TryResetLinks(void) {
   }
   return kSuccess;
 }
-/*!
- * \brief try to reconnect the broken links
- * \return this function can kSuccess or kSockError
- */
-AllreduceRobust::ReturnType AllreduceRobust::TryReConnectLinks(void) {
-  utils::Error("TryReConnectLinks: not implemented");
-  return kSuccess;
-}
 /*!
  * \brief if err_type indicates an error
  *         recover links according to the error type reported
@@ -298,12 +290,20 @@ AllreduceRobust::ReturnType AllreduceRobust::TryReConnectLinks(void) {
  */
 bool AllreduceRobust::CheckAndRecover(ReturnType err_type) {
   if (err_type == kSuccess) return true;
+  // simple way, shutdown all links
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < links.size(); ++i) {
+    if (!links[i].sock.BadSocket()) links[i].sock.Close();
+  }
+  ReConnectLinks("recover");  
+  return false;
+  // this was old way
   while(err_type != kSuccess) {
     switch(err_type) {
       case kGetExcept: err_type = TryResetLinks(); break;
       case kSockError: {
         TryResetLinks();
-        err_type = TryReConnectLinks();
+        ReConnectLinks();
+        err_type = kSuccess;
         break;
       }
       default: utils::Assert(false, "RecoverLinks: cannot reach here");
diff --git a/src/allreduce_robust.h b/src/allreduce_robust.h
index 26e45f16c..ad660da94 100644
--- a/src/allreduce_robust.h
+++ b/src/allreduce_robust.h
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class AllreduceRobust : public AllreduceBase {
    *    this function is only used for test purpose
    */
   virtual void InitAfterException(void) {
-    //this->CheckAndRecover(kGetExcept);
+    this->CheckAndRecover(kGetExcept);
   }
 
  private:
@@ -234,12 +234,7 @@ class AllreduceRobust : public AllreduceBase {
    *         when kSockError is returned, it simply means there are bad sockets in the links,
    *         and some link recovery proceduer is needed
    */
-  ReturnType TryResetLinks(void);  
-  /*!
-   * \brief try to reconnect the broken links
-   * \return this function can kSuccess or kSockError
-   */
-  ReturnType TryReConnectLinks(void);
+  ReturnType TryResetLinks(void);
   /*!
    * \brief if err_type indicates an error
    *         recover links according to the error type reported
diff --git a/src/rabit-inl.h b/src/rabit-inl.h
index 631686582..f3fd39b2a 100644
--- a/src/rabit-inl.h
+++ b/src/rabit-inl.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*!
  * \file rabit-inl.h
  * \brief implementation of inline template function for rabit interface
- *   
+ *
  * \author Tianqi Chen
  */
 #ifndef RABIT_RABIT_INL_H
diff --git a/src/rabit_master.py b/src/rabit_master.py
index 1cfc00dc0..cfa1cce9a 100644
--- a/src/rabit_master.py
+++ b/src/rabit_master.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import os
 import socket
 import struct
 import subprocess
+import random
 from threading import Thread
 
 """
@@ -136,6 +137,7 @@ class Master:
         wait_conn = {}
         # set of nodes that is pending for getting up
         todo_nodes = range(nslave)
+        random.shuffle(todo_nodes)
         # maps job id to rank
         job_map = {}
         # list of workers that is pending to be assigned rank
@@ -149,7 +151,10 @@ class Master:
                 assert s.rank not in wait_conn
                 shutdown[s.rank] = s
                 continue
-            assert s.cmd == 'start'
+            assert s.cmd == 'start' or s.cmd == 'recover'
+            if s.cmd == 'recover':
+                assert s.rank >= 0
+                print 'Recieve recover signal from %d' % s.rank
             rank = s.decide_rank(job_map)
             if rank == -1:
                 assert len(todo_nodes) != 0