diff --git a/shared/n-dhcp4/src/n-dhcp4-c-connection.c b/shared/n-dhcp4/src/n-dhcp4-c-connection.c
index 3dd0535678..d4354467d1 100644
--- a/shared/n-dhcp4/src/n-dhcp4-c-connection.c
+++ b/shared/n-dhcp4/src/n-dhcp4-c-connection.c
@@ -1104,13 +1104,14 @@ int n_dhcp4_c_connection_start_request(NDhcp4CConnection *connection,
         if (request->userdata.start_time == 0)
                 request->userdata.start_time = timestamp;
 
-        n_dhcp4_outgoing_free(connection->request);
-        connection->request = request;
+        connection->request = n_dhcp4_outgoing_free(connection->request);
 
         r = n_dhcp4_c_connection_send_request(connection, request, timestamp);
         if (r)
                 return r;
 
+        connection->request = request;
+
         return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/dhcp/nm-dhcp-nettools.c b/src/dhcp/nm-dhcp-nettools.c
index 23bdefabb8..d3a9956260 100644
--- a/src/dhcp/nm-dhcp-nettools.c
+++ b/src/dhcp/nm-dhcp-nettools.c
@@ -1063,8 +1063,18 @@ dhcp4_event_cb (int fd,
 	int r;
 
 	r = n_dhcp4_client_dispatch (priv->client);
-	if (r < 0)
-		return G_SOURCE_CONTINUE;
+	if (r < 0) {
+		/* FIXME: if any operation (e.g. send()) fails during the
+		 * dispatch, n-dhcp4 returns an error without arming timers
+		 * or progressing state, so the only reasonable thing to do
+		 * is to move to failed state so that the client will be
+		 * restarted. Ideally n-dhcp4 should retry failed operations
+		 * a predefined number of times (possibly infinite).
+		 */
+		_LOGE ("error %d dispatching events", r);
+		nm_dhcp_client_set_state (NM_DHCP_CLIENT (self), NM_DHCP_STATE_FAIL, NULL, NULL);
+		return G_SOURCE_REMOVE;
+	}
 
 	while (!n_dhcp4_client_pop_event (priv->client, &event) && event) {
 		dhcp4_event_handle (self, event);