diff --git a/confluent_server/confluent/config/configmanager.py b/confluent_server/confluent/config/configmanager.py
index 672caac3..3596a0ee 100644
--- a/confluent_server/confluent/config/configmanager.py
+++ b/confluent_server/confluent/config/configmanager.py
@@ -2338,7 +2338,7 @@ class ConfigManager(object):
             return
         with cls._syncstate:
             if (cls._syncrunning and cls._cfgwriter is not None and
-                    not cls._cfgwriter.dead):
+                    cls._cfgwriter.isAlive()):
                 cls._writepending = True
                 return
             if cls._syncrunning:  # This suggests an unclean write attempt,
diff --git a/confluent_server/confluent/discovery/core.py b/confluent_server/confluent/discovery/core.py
index acdef04c..fe3f5dc4 100644
--- a/confluent_server/confluent/discovery/core.py
+++ b/confluent_server/confluent/discovery/core.py
@@ -705,7 +705,8 @@ def detected(info):
 
 def b64tohex(b64str):
     bd = base64.b64decode(b64str)
-    return ''.join(['{0:02x}'.format(ord(x)) for x in bd])
+    bd = bytearray(bd)
+    return ''.join(['{0:02x}'.format(x) for x in bd])
 
 
 def get_enclosure_chain_head(nodename, cfg):