I have a .NET 3.5 client/server socket interface using the asynchronous methods. The client connects to the server and the connection should remain open until the app terminates. The protocol consists of the following pattern: send stx receive ack send data1 receive ack send data2 (repeat 5-6 while more data) receive ack send etx So a single transaction with two datablocks as above would consist of 4 sends from the client. After sending etx the client simply waits for more data to send out, then begins the next transmission with stx. I do not want to break the connection between individual exchanges or after each stx/data/etx payload. Right now, after connection, the client can send the first stx, and get a single ack, but I can't put more data onto the wire after that. Neither side disconnects, the socket is still intact. The client code is seriously abbreviated as follows - I'm following the pattern commonly available in online code samples. private void SendReceive(string data) { // ... SocketAsyncEventArgs completeArgs; completeArgs.Completed += new EventHandler<SocketAsyncEventArgs>(OnSend); clientSocket.SendAsync(completeArgs); // two AutoResetEvents, one for send, one for receive if ( !AutoResetEvent.WaitAll(autoSendReceiveEvents , -1) ) Log("failed"); else Log("success"); // ... } private void OnSend( object sender , SocketAsyncEventArgs e ) { // ... Socket s = e.UserToken as Socket; byte[] receiveBuffer = new byte[ 4096 ]; e.SetBuffer(receiveBuffer , 0 , receiveBuffer.Length); e.Completed += new EventHandler<SocketAsyncEventArgs>(OnReceive); s.ReceiveAsync(e); // ... } private void OnReceive( object sender , SocketAsyncEventArgs e ) {} // ... if ( e.BytesTransferred > 0 ) { Int32 bytesTransferred = e.BytesTransferred; String received = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(e.Buffer , e.Offset , bytesTransferred); dataReceived += received; } autoSendReceiveEvents[ SendOperation ].Set(); // could be moved elsewhere autoSendReceiveEvents[ ReceiveOperation ].Set(); // releases mutexes } The code on the server is very similar except that it receives first and then sends a response - the server is not doing anything (that I can tell) to modify the connection after it sends a response. The problem is that the second time I hit SendReceive in the client, the connection is already in a weird state. Do I need to do something in the client to preserve the SocketAsyncEventArgs, and re-use the same object for the lifetime of the socket/connection? I'm not sure which eventargs object should hang around during the life of the connection or a given exchange. Do I need to do something, or Not do something in the server to ensure it continues to Receive data? The server setup and response processing looks like this: void Start() { // ... listenSocket.Bind(...); listenSocket.Listen(0); StartAccept(null); // note accept as soon as we start. OK? mutex.WaitOne(); } void StartAccept(SocketAsyncEventArgs acceptEventArg) { if ( acceptEventArg == null ) { acceptEventArg = new SocketAsyncEventArgs(); acceptEventArg.Completed += new EventHandler<SocketAsyncEventArgs>(OnAcceptCompleted); } Boolean willRaiseEvent = this.listenSocket.AcceptAsync(acceptEventArg); if ( !willRaiseEvent ) ProcessAccept(acceptEventArg); // ... } private void OnAcceptCompleted( object sender , SocketAsyncEventArgs e ) { ProcessAccept(e); } private void ProcessAccept( SocketAsyncEventArgs e ) { // ... SocketAsyncEventArgs readEventArgs = new SocketAsyncEventArgs(); readEventArgs.SetBuffer(dataBuffer , 0 , Int16.MaxValue); readEventArgs.Completed += new EventHandler<SocketAsyncEventArgs>(OnIOCompleted); readEventArgs.UserToken = e.AcceptSocket; dataReceived = ""; // note server is degraded for single client/thread use // As soon as the client is connected, post a receive to the connection. Boolean willRaiseEvent = e.AcceptSocket.ReceiveAsync(readEventArgs); if ( !willRaiseEvent ) this.ProcessReceive(readEventArgs); // Accept the next connection request. this.StartAccept(e); } private void OnIOCompleted( object sender , SocketAsyncEventArgs e ) { // switch ( e.LastOperation ) case SocketAsyncOperation.Receive: ProcessReceive(e); // similar to client code // operate on dataReceived here case SocketAsyncOperation.Send: ProcessSend(e); // similar to client code } // execute this when a data has been processed into a response (ack, etc) private SendResponseToClient(string response) { // create buffer with response // currentEventArgs has class scope and is re-used currentEventArgs.SetBuffer(sendBuffer , 0 , sendBuffer.Length); Boolean willRaiseEvent = currentClient.SendAsync(currentEventArgs); if ( !willRaiseEvent ) ProcessSend(currentEventArgs); } A .NET trace shows the following when sending ABC\r\n: Socket#7588182::SendAsync() Socket#7588182::SendAsync(True#1) Data from Socket#7588182::FinishOperation(SendAsync) 00000000 : 41 42 43 0D 0A Socket#7588182::ReceiveAsync() Exiting Socket#7588182::ReceiveAsync() - True#1 And it stops there. It looks just like the first send from the client but the server shows no activity. I think that could be info overload for now but I'll be happy to provide more details as required. Thanks!