diff --git a/ground/src/plugins/coreplugin/connectionmanager.cpp b/ground/src/plugins/coreplugin/connectionmanager.cpp
index 730fc9197..435cbb027 100644
--- a/ground/src/plugins/coreplugin/connectionmanager.cpp
+++ b/ground/src/plugins/coreplugin/connectionmanager.cpp
@@ -151,18 +151,28 @@ void ConnectionManager::onConnectPressed()
             else
             {
                 m_connectionDevice.connection = NULL;
+                m_ioDev = NULL;
             }
         }
     }
+    else {
+        //only do this if we are disconnecting
+        //signal interested plugins that user is disconnecting his device
+        emit deviceDisconnected();
+        if(m_connectionDevice.connection){
+            m_connectionDevice.connection->closeDevice(m_connectionDevice.devName);
+            m_ioDev = NULL;
+            m_connectionDevice.connection = NULL;
+        }
+    }
+
 
     //both in case of error and disconnection, we fall back here
     m_connectBtn->setText("Connect");
     m_availableDevList->setEnabled(true);
 
-    //signal interested plugins that user is disconnecting his device
-    emit deviceDisconnected();
 
-    //close the device
+    /*//close the device
     if(m_ioDev)
     {
         m_ioDev->close();
@@ -171,11 +181,9 @@ void ConnectionManager::onConnectPressed()
         delete m_ioDev;
         m_ioDev = NULL;
     }
+    */
 
-    if(m_connectionDevice.connection)
-        m_connectionDevice.connection->closeDevice(m_connectionDevice.devName);
 
-    m_connectionDevice.connection = NULL;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/ground/src/plugins/ipconnection/ipconnectionplugin.cpp b/ground/src/plugins/ipconnection/ipconnectionplugin.cpp
index e390e112f..ccd305794 100644
--- a/ground/src/plugins/ipconnection/ipconnectionplugin.cpp
+++ b/ground/src/plugins/ipconnection/ipconnectionplugin.cpp
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
 
 IPconnectionConnection::IPconnectionConnection()
 {
+    ipSocket = NULL;
     //create all our objects
     m_config = new IPconnectionConfiguration("IP Network Telemetry", NULL, this);
     m_config->restoresettings();
@@ -59,9 +60,11 @@ IPconnectionConnection::IPconnectionConnection()
 }
 
 IPconnectionConnection::~IPconnectionConnection()
-{
-    //tcpSocket->close ();
-    //delete(tcpSocket);
+{//clean up out resources...
+    if (ipSocket){
+        ipSocket->close ();
+        delete(ipSocket);
+    }
 }
 
 void IPconnectionConnection::onEnumerationChanged()
@@ -89,10 +92,17 @@ QIODevice *IPconnectionConnection::openDevice(const QString &deviceName)
             int Port;
             QMessageBox msgBox;
 
+            if (ipSocket){
+                //Andrew: close any existing socket... this should never occur
+                ipSocket->close ();
+                delete(ipSocket);
+                ipSocket = NULL;
+            }
+
             if (m_config->UseTCP()) {
-                tcpSocket = new QTcpSocket(this);
+                ipSocket = new QTcpSocket(this);
             } else {
-                tcpSocket = new QUdpSocket(this);
+                ipSocket = new QUdpSocket(this);
             }
 
             //get the configuration info
@@ -107,30 +117,29 @@ QIODevice *IPconnectionConnection::openDevice(const QString &deviceName)
             }
             else {
                 //try to connect...
-                tcpSocket->connectToHost((const QString )HostName, Port);
+                ipSocket->connectToHost((const QString )HostName, Port);
 
                 //in blocking mode so we wait for the connection to succeed
-                if (tcpSocket->waitForConnected(Timeout)) {
-                    return tcpSocket;
+                if (ipSocket->waitForConnected(Timeout)) {
+                    return ipSocket;
                 }
                 //tell user something went wrong
-                msgBox.setText((const QString )tcpSocket->errorString ());
+                msgBox.setText((const QString )ipSocket->errorString ());
                 msgBox.exec();
             }
 /* BUGBUG TODO - returning null here leads to segfault because some caller still calls disconnect without checking our return value properly
  * someone needs to debug this, I got lost in the calling chain.*/
-    //return NULL;
-    return tcpSocket;
+    ipSocket = NULL;
+    return ipSocket;
 }
 
 void IPconnectionConnection::closeDevice(const QString &deviceName)
 {
-    //still having problems with the app crashing when we reference the tcpsocket outside the openDevice function...
-    //tcpSocket->close ();
-    //delete(tcpSocket);
-    // Note: CorvusCorax thinks its because the socket got deleted by the caller before this close() is even called
-    // so we end up with a dangling reference! Is this a bug?
-
+    if (ipSocket){
+        ipSocket->close ();
+        delete(ipSocket);
+        ipSocket = NULL;
+    }
 }
 
 
diff --git a/ground/src/plugins/ipconnection/ipconnectionplugin.h b/ground/src/plugins/ipconnection/ipconnectionplugin.h
index 43ef81a29..b4157d7e5 100644
--- a/ground/src/plugins/ipconnection/ipconnectionplugin.h
+++ b/ground/src/plugins/ipconnection/ipconnectionplugin.h
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ public:
 protected slots:
     void onEnumerationChanged();
 private:
-       QAbstractSocket *tcpSocket;
+       QAbstractSocket *ipSocket;
        IPconnectionConfiguration *m_config;
        IPconnectionOptionsPage *m_optionspage;
        //QSettings* settings;
diff --git a/ground/src/plugins/rawhid/rawhidplugin.cpp b/ground/src/plugins/rawhid/rawhidplugin.cpp
index de2af862a..d14422a0e 100644
--- a/ground/src/plugins/rawhid/rawhidplugin.cpp
+++ b/ground/src/plugins/rawhid/rawhidplugin.cpp
@@ -75,6 +75,10 @@ void RawHIDEnumerationThread::run()
 RawHIDConnection::RawHIDConnection()
     : m_enumerateThread(this)
 {
+    //added by andrew
+    RawHidHandle = NULL;
+
+
     QObject::connect(&m_enumerateThread, SIGNAL(enumerationChanged()),
                      this, SLOT(onEnumerationChanged()));
     m_enumerateThread.start();
@@ -112,12 +116,27 @@ QStringList RawHIDConnection::availableDevices()
 
 QIODevice *RawHIDConnection::openDevice(const QString &deviceName)
 {
+    //added by andrew
+    if (RawHidHandle){
+        closeDevice(deviceName);
+    }
+    //end added by andrew
     m_deviceOpened = true;
-    return new RawHID(deviceName);
+    //return new RawHID(deviceName);
+    RawHidHandle = new RawHID(deviceName);
+    return RawHidHandle;
 }
 
 void RawHIDConnection::closeDevice(const QString &deviceName)
 {
+    //added by andrew...
+    if (RawHidHandle){
+        RawHidHandle->close();
+        delete(RawHidHandle);
+        RawHidHandle=NULL;
+    }
+    //end added by andrew
+
     m_deviceOpened = false;
 }
 
diff --git a/ground/src/plugins/rawhid/rawhidplugin.h b/ground/src/plugins/rawhid/rawhidplugin.h
index d3b326b70..c323aa64e 100644
--- a/ground/src/plugins/rawhid/rawhidplugin.h
+++ b/ground/src/plugins/rawhid/rawhidplugin.h
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 #define RAWHIDPLUGIN_H
 
 #include "rawhid_global.h"
+#include "rawhid.h"
 
 #include "coreplugin/iconnection.h"
 #include <extensionsystem/iplugin.h>
@@ -88,6 +89,9 @@ public:
 protected slots:
     void onEnumerationChanged();
 
+private:
+    RawHID *RawHidHandle;
+
 protected:
     QMutex m_enumMutex;
     RawHIDEnumerationThread m_enumerateThread;
diff --git a/ground/src/plugins/serialconnection/serialplugin.cpp b/ground/src/plugins/serialconnection/serialplugin.cpp
index 641b5529d..09bca9f5a 100644
--- a/ground/src/plugins/serialconnection/serialplugin.cpp
+++ b/ground/src/plugins/serialconnection/serialplugin.cpp
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 
 SerialConnection::SerialConnection()
 {
+    serialHandle = NULL;
     //I'm cheating a little bit here:
     //Knowing if the device enumeration really changed is a bit complicated
     //so I just signal it whenever we have a device event...
@@ -74,6 +75,9 @@ QStringList SerialConnection::availableDevices()
 
 QIODevice *SerialConnection::openDevice(const QString &deviceName)
 {
+    if (serialHandle){
+        closeDevice(deviceName);
+    }
     QList<QextPortInfo> ports = QextSerialEnumerator::getPorts();
     foreach( QextPortInfo port, ports ) {
            if(port.friendName == deviceName)
@@ -87,10 +91,11 @@ QIODevice *SerialConnection::openDevice(const QString &deviceName)
             set.FlowControl = FLOW_OFF;
             set.Timeout_Millisec = 500;
 #ifdef Q_OS_WIN
-            return new QextSerialPort(port.portName, set);
+            serialHandle = new QextSerialPort(port.portName, set);
 #else
-            return new QextSerialPort(port.physName, set);
+            serialHandle = new QextSerialPort(port.physName, set);
 #endif
+            return serialHandle;
         }
     }
     return NULL;
@@ -98,7 +103,12 @@ QIODevice *SerialConnection::openDevice(const QString &deviceName)
 
 void SerialConnection::closeDevice(const QString &deviceName)
 {
-    //nothing to do here
+    //we have to delete the serial connection we created
+    if (serialHandle){
+        serialHandle->close ();
+        delete(serialHandle);
+        serialHandle = NULL;
+    }
 }
 
 
diff --git a/ground/src/plugins/serialconnection/serialplugin.h b/ground/src/plugins/serialconnection/serialplugin.h
index 87d2c6365..d61d8c729 100644
--- a/ground/src/plugins/serialconnection/serialplugin.h
+++ b/ground/src/plugins/serialconnection/serialplugin.h
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ public:
     virtual QString connectionName();
     virtual QString shortName();
 
+private:
+    QextSerialPort*  serialHandle;
+
 protected slots:
     void onEnumerationChanged();
 };