diff --git a/components/flatbuffers/TopologyMessageBuilder.cpp b/components/flatbuffers/TopologyMessageBuilder.cpp
index dc7cbb3..9a933da 100644
--- a/components/flatbuffers/TopologyMessageBuilder.cpp
+++ b/components/flatbuffers/TopologyMessageBuilder.cpp
@@ -30,8 +30,4 @@ namespace Flatbuffers {
 
         return {builder_.GetBufferPointer(), builder_.GetSize()};
     }
-
-    const Messaging::TopologyMessage* TopologyMessageBuilder::parse_topology_message(const uint8_t* buffer) {
-        return flatbuffers::GetRoot<Messaging::TopologyMessage>(buffer);
-    }
 }
diff --git a/components/flatbuffers/include/TopologyMessageBuilder.h b/components/flatbuffers/include/TopologyMessageBuilder.h
index e0aeae6..07fb34c 100644
--- a/components/flatbuffers/include/TopologyMessageBuilder.h
+++ b/components/flatbuffers/include/TopologyMessageBuilder.h
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@ namespace Flatbuffers {
             const std::vector<uint8_t>& channel_to_module,
             const std::vector<int8_t>& orientation_to_module);
 
-        static const Messaging::TopologyMessage* parse_topology_message(const uint8_t* buffer);
-
     private:
         flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder builder_;
     };
diff --git a/components/rpc/CommunicationRouter.cpp b/components/rpc/CommunicationRouter.cpp
index 7729747..67fdca6 100644
--- a/components/rpc/CommunicationRouter.cpp
+++ b/components/rpc/CommunicationRouter.cpp
@@ -100,6 +100,13 @@ void CommunicationRouter::update_leader() {
 }
 
 void CommunicationRouter::route(uint8_t* buffer, const size_t length) const {
+	flatbuffers::Verifier verifier(buffer, length);
+	bool ok = Messaging::VerifyMPIMessageBuffer(verifier);
+	if (!ok) { // This could be moved to just be called on wireline data to save cpu cycles.
+		ESP_LOGW(TAG, "route: got an invalid MPI message, disregarding");
+		return;
+	}
+
     const auto& mpi_message = Flatbuffers::MPIMessageBuilder::parse_mpi_message(buffer);
 
     if (mpi_message->destination() == m_module_id) {
diff --git a/components/rpc/TCPServer.cpp b/components/rpc/TCPServer.cpp
index 9660926..d6cfe7e 100644
--- a/components/rpc/TCPServer.cpp
+++ b/components/rpc/TCPServer.cpp
@@ -124,7 +124,8 @@ TCPServer::~TCPServer() {
     const auto that = static_cast<TCPServer *>(args);
 
     while (true) {
-        vTaskDelay(1 / portTICK_PERIOD_MS); // Avoid starving other threads
+        vTaskDelay(0); // Avoid starving other threads
+
         fd_set readfds;
         FD_ZERO(&readfds);
         int max_fd = -1;
@@ -136,13 +137,18 @@ TCPServer::~TCPServer() {
         }
         xSemaphoreGive(that->m_mutex);
 
-        timeval timeout = {0, 100000}; // 100 ms timeout
+        // todo: Select seems to be timing out the watchdog, even though we have a 50ms timeout.
+        //       Potentially select is not respecting our timeout?
+        timeval timeout = {0, 50000}; // 50 ms timeout
         int ret = select(max_fd + 1, &readfds, nullptr, nullptr, &timeout);
 
+        vTaskDelay(0); // Avoid starving other threads
+
         if (ret > 0) {
             xSemaphoreTake(that->m_mutex, portMAX_DELAY);
             std::vector<int> to_remove;
             for (int sock : that->m_clients) {
+                vTaskDelay(0); // Avoid starving other threads
                 if (FD_ISSET(sock, &readfds)) {
                     // Handle socket
                     auto buffer = std::make_unique<std::vector<uint8_t>>();
@@ -160,7 +166,7 @@ TCPServer::~TCPServer() {
                         ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Error occurred during receiving: errno %d\n", errno);
                         to_remove.emplace_back(sock);
                     } else if (0 == len) {
-                        ESP_LOGW(TAG, "Connection closed\n");
+                        ESP_LOGI(TAG, "TCP Connection closed\n");
                         close(sock);
                         to_remove.emplace_back(sock);
                     } else {
@@ -211,8 +217,6 @@ bool TCPServer::authenticate_client(int sock) {
 }
 
 int TCPServer::send_msg(char *buffer, uint32_t length) const {
-    // todo: should we assign a unique rank to each pc?
-
     if (!is_network_connected()) {
         return -1;
     }