diff --git a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Table.pm b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Table.pm
index 04362aff8..6a4b54c6b 100644
--- a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Table.pm
+++ b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Table.pm
@@ -274,6 +274,14 @@ sub handle_dbc_request {
             }
             my $oldhandle = $::XCAT_DBHS->{$dbindex}; #store old handle off 
             $::XCAT_DBHS->{$dbindex} = $::XCAT_DBHS->{$dbindex}->clone(); #replace broken db handle with nice, new, working one
+	    unless ($::XCAT_DBHS->{$dbindex}) { #this means the clone failed
+		#most likely result is the DB is down
+		#restore the old broken handle
+		#so that future recovery attempts have a shot
+		#a broken db handle we can recover, no db handle we cannot
+		$::XCAT_DBHS->{$dbindex} = $oldhandle;
+		return undef;
+	    }
             $dbobjsforhandle->{$::XCAT_DBHS->{$dbindex}} = $dbobjsforhandle->{$oldhandle}; #Move the map of depenednt objects to the new handle
             foreach (@afflictedobjs) {  #migrate afflicted objects to the new DB handle
                 $$_->{dbh} = $::XCAT_DBHS->{$dbindex};