diff --git a/orte/mca/iof/hnp/iof_hnp_read.c b/orte/mca/iof/hnp/iof_hnp_read.c
index 257cad7070..b26b5cc9cb 100644
--- a/orte/mca/iof/hnp/iof_hnp_read.c
+++ b/orte/mca/iof/hnp/iof_hnp_read.c
@@ -102,9 +102,11 @@ void orte_iof_hnp_read_local_handler(int fd, short event, void *cbdata)
                              "%s iof:hnp:read handler %s Error on connection:%d",
                              ORTE_NAME_PRINT(ORTE_PROC_MY_NAME),
                              ORTE_NAME_PRINT(&rev->name), fd));
-        close(fd);
-        opal_event_del(&rev->ev);
-        goto CLEAN_RETURN;
+        /* Un-recoverable error. Allow the code to flow as usual in order to
+         * to send the zero bytes message up the stream, and then close the
+         * file descriptor and delete the event.
+         */
+        numbytes = 0;
     }
     
     /* is this read from our stdin? */
@@ -157,10 +159,6 @@ void orte_iof_hnp_read_local_handler(int fd, short event, void *cbdata)
                 orte_iof_hnp_send_data_to_endpoint(&sink->daemon, &sink->name, ORTE_IOF_STDIN, data, numbytes);
             }
         }
-        /* check if stdin was closed */
-        if (0 == numbytes) {
-            opal_event_del(&rev->ev);
-        }
         /* nothing more to do */
         goto CLEAN_RETURN;
     }
@@ -186,9 +184,6 @@ void orte_iof_hnp_read_local_handler(int fd, short event, void *cbdata)
                                  ORTE_NAME_PRINT(ORTE_PROC_MY_NAME),
                                  ORTE_NAME_PRINT(&sink->daemon)));
             orte_iof_hnp_send_data_to_endpoint(&sink->daemon, &rev->name, rev->tag, data, numbytes);
-            if (0 == numbytes) {
-                opal_event_del(&rev->ev);
-            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -198,16 +193,7 @@ void orte_iof_hnp_read_local_handler(int fd, short event, void *cbdata)
                          (ORTE_IOF_STDOUT & rev->tag) ? "stdout" : ((ORTE_IOF_STDERR & rev->tag) ? "stderr" : "stddiag"),
                          ORTE_NAME_PRINT(&rev->name)));
     
-    /* if we read 0 bytes from the stdout/err/diag, there is
-     * nothing to output - we do not close these file descriptors,
-     * but we do terminate the event
-     */
-    if (0 == numbytes) {
-        opal_event_del(&rev->ev);
-        goto CLEAN_RETURN;
-    }
-
-    if (ORTE_IOF_STDOUT & rev->tag) {
+   if ( (0 != numbytes) && (ORTE_IOF_STDOUT & rev->tag) ) {
         orte_iof_base_write_output(&rev->name, rev->tag, data, numbytes, &orte_iof_base.iof_write_stdout);
     } else {
         orte_iof_base_write_output(&rev->name, rev->tag, data, numbytes, &orte_iof_base.iof_write_stderr);
@@ -215,7 +201,17 @@ void orte_iof_hnp_read_local_handler(int fd, short event, void *cbdata)
     }
 
 CLEAN_RETURN:
-    OPAL_THREAD_UNLOCK(&mca_iof_hnp_component.lock);
+    /* if we read 0 bytes from the stdout/err/diag, there is
+     * nothing to output - we do not close these file descriptors,
+     * but we do terminate the event
+     */
+    if (0 == numbytes) {
+        close(fd);
+        opal_event_del(&rev->ev);
+        rev->ev.ev_fd = -1;
+    }
+
+     OPAL_THREAD_UNLOCK(&mca_iof_hnp_component.lock);
     
     /* since the event is persistent, we do not need to re-add it */
     return;
diff --git a/orte/mca/iof/orted/iof_orted.c b/orte/mca/iof/orted/iof_orted.c
index 2d743cb98c..893ff8e943 100644
--- a/orte/mca/iof/orted/iof_orted.c
+++ b/orte/mca/iof/orted/iof_orted.c
@@ -163,12 +163,13 @@ static int orted_close(const orte_process_name_t* peer,
     OPAL_THREAD_LOCK(&mca_iof_orted_component.lock);
 
     /* The STDIN have a read event attached, while everything else
-     * have a sink. Therefore, we don't have to do anything special
-     * for them, the sink will empty the output queue.
+     * have a sink. We don't have to do anything special for sinks,
+     * they will dissapear when the output queue is empty.
      */
-    if( ORTE_IOF_STDIN == source_tag ) {
+    if( ORTE_IOF_STDIN & source_tag ) {
         opal_list_item_t *item, *next_item;
         orte_iof_read_event_t* rev;
+        int rev_fd;
 
         for( item = opal_list_get_first(&mca_iof_orted_component.read_events);
              item != opal_list_get_end(&mca_iof_orted_component.read_events);
@@ -182,8 +183,9 @@ static int orted_close(const orte_process_name_t* peer,
                 /* No need to delete the event, the destructor will automatically
                  * do it for us.
                  */
-                close(rev->ev.ev_fd);
+                rev_fd = rev->ev.ev_fd;
                 OBJ_RELEASE(item);
+                close(rev_fd);
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/orte/mca/iof/orted/iof_orted_read.c b/orte/mca/iof/orted/iof_orted_read.c
index 0980b11f53..6817a6f35e 100644
--- a/orte/mca/iof/orted/iof_orted_read.c
+++ b/orte/mca/iof/orted/iof_orted_read.c
@@ -75,25 +75,19 @@ void orte_iof_orted_read_handler(int fd, short event, void *cbdata)
 #endif  /* !defined(__WINDOWS__) */
     
     if (numbytes <= 0) {
-        if (0 == numbytes) {
-            /* child process closed connection - close the fd */
-            close(fd);
-            goto CLEAN_RETURN;
-        }
-        /* either we have a connection error or it was a non-blocking read */
-        
-        /* non-blocking, retry */
-        if (EAGAIN == errno || EINTR == errno) {
-            OPAL_THREAD_UNLOCK(&mca_iof_orted_component.lock);
-            return;
-        } 
+        if (0 > numbytes) {
+            /* either we have a connection error or it was a non-blocking read */
+            if (EAGAIN == errno || EINTR == errno) {
+                /* non-blocking, retry */
+                OPAL_THREAD_UNLOCK(&mca_iof_orted_component.lock);
+                return;
+            } 
 
-        OPAL_OUTPUT_VERBOSE((1, orte_iof_base.iof_output,
-                             "%s iof:orted:read handler %s Error on connection:%d",
-                             ORTE_NAME_PRINT(ORTE_PROC_MY_NAME),
-                             ORTE_NAME_PRINT(&rev->name), fd));
-        
-        close(fd);
+            OPAL_OUTPUT_VERBOSE((1, orte_iof_base.iof_output,
+                                 "%s iof:orted:read handler %s Error on connection:%d",
+                                 ORTE_NAME_PRINT(ORTE_PROC_MY_NAME),
+                                 ORTE_NAME_PRINT(&rev->name), fd));
+        }
         goto CLEAN_RETURN;
     }
     
@@ -142,6 +136,8 @@ void orte_iof_orted_read_handler(int fd, short event, void *cbdata)
 CLEAN_RETURN:
     /* delete the event from the event library */
     opal_event_del(&rev->ev);
+    close(rev->ev.ev_fd);
+    rev->ev.ev_fd = -1;
     if (NULL != buf) {
         OBJ_RELEASE(buf);
     }
diff --git a/orte/mca/odls/base/odls_base_default_fns.c b/orte/mca/odls/base/odls_base_default_fns.c
index f95df0fa92..9e451f7019 100644
--- a/orte/mca/odls/base/odls_base_default_fns.c
+++ b/orte/mca/odls/base/odls_base_default_fns.c
@@ -1853,10 +1853,8 @@ MOVEON:
     child->alive = false;
 
     /* Release the IOF resources related to this child */
-    orte_iof.close(child->name, ORTE_IOF_STDIN);
-    orte_iof.close(child->name, ORTE_IOF_STDOUT);
-    orte_iof.close(child->name, ORTE_IOF_STDERR);
-    orte_iof.close(child->name, ORTE_IOF_STDDIAG);
+    orte_iof.close(child->name, (ORTE_IOF_STDIN | ORTE_IOF_STDOUT |
+                                 ORTE_IOF_STDERR | ORTE_IOF_STDDIAG) );
 
     /* Clean up the session directory as if we were the process
      * itself.  This covers the case where the process died abnormally