diff --git a/libretroshare/src/pqi/p3connmgr.cc b/libretroshare/src/pqi/p3connmgr.cc
index 156f90677..0d7d8c197 100644
--- a/libretroshare/src/pqi/p3connmgr.cc
+++ b/libretroshare/src/pqi/p3connmgr.cc
@@ -2996,6 +2996,12 @@ std::list<RsItem *> p3ConnectMgr::saveList(bool &cleanup)
 
 bool  p3ConnectMgr::loadList(std::list<RsItem *> load)
 {
+
+        if (load.size() == 0) {
+            std::cerr << "p3ConnectMgr::loadList() list is empty, it may be a configuration problem."  << std::endl;
+            return false;
+        }
+
 #ifdef CONN_DEBUG
 	std::cerr << "p3ConnectMgr::loadList() Item Count: " << load.size() << std::endl;
 #endif