diff --git a/WHATS_NEW_DM b/WHATS_NEW_DM
index 27d8972d4..de2709183 100644
--- a/WHATS_NEW_DM
+++ b/WHATS_NEW_DM
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 Version 1.02.71 - 
 ====================================
+  Detect failing fifo and skip 20s retry communication period.
   Add DM_DEFAULT_NAME_MANGLING_MODE env. variable to override configured value.
   Add dm_lib_init to automatically initialise device-mapper library on load.
   Replace any '\' char with '\\' in table specification on input.
diff --git a/daemons/dmeventd/libdevmapper-event.c b/daemons/dmeventd/libdevmapper-event.c
index c85ef880c..dd95aae9c 100644
--- a/daemons/dmeventd/libdevmapper-event.c
+++ b/daemons/dmeventd/libdevmapper-event.c
@@ -232,6 +232,7 @@ static int _daemon_read(struct dm_event_fifos *fifos,
 	size_t size = 2 * sizeof(uint32_t);	/* status + size */
 	uint32_t *header = alloca(size);
 	char *buf = (char *)header;
+	struct stat fstatbuf;
 
 	while (bytes < size) {
 		for (i = 0, ret = 0; (i < 20) && (ret < 1); i++) {
@@ -245,6 +246,13 @@ static int _daemon_read(struct dm_event_fifos *fifos,
 				log_error("Unable to read from event server");
 				return 0;
 			}
+			/* Check whether fifo is still alive */
+			if ((ret == 0) &&
+			    fstat(fifos->server + 1, &fstatbuf) &&
+			    (errno == EBADF)) {
+				log_error("Fifo fd is bad for event server.");
+				return 0;
+			}
 		}
 		if (ret < 1) {
 			log_error("Unable to read from event server.");