diff --git a/onionr/communicatorutils/downloadblocks/__init__.py b/onionr/communicatorutils/downloadblocks/__init__.py
index ab289bc7..02ce564c 100755
--- a/onionr/communicatorutils/downloadblocks/__init__.py
+++ b/onionr/communicatorutils/downloadblocks/__init__.py
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ def download_blocks_from_communicator(comm_inst):
         if not comm_inst.shutdown and peerUsed.strip() != '':
             logger.info("Attempting to download %s from %s..." % (blockHash[:12], peerUsed))
         content = peeraction.peer_action(comm_inst, peerUsed, 'getdata/' + blockHash, max_resp_size=3000000) # block content from random peer (includes metadata)
+
         if content != False and len(content) > 0:
             try:
                 content = content.encode()
diff --git a/onionr/httpapi/miscpublicapi/getblocks.py b/onionr/httpapi/miscpublicapi/getblocks.py
index 28693110..a93909a1 100755
--- a/onionr/httpapi/miscpublicapi/getblocks.py
+++ b/onionr/httpapi/miscpublicapi/getblocks.py
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ def get_block_data(publicAPI, data):
                 try:
                     block = block.encode() # Encode in case data is binary
                 except AttributeError:
-                    abort(404)
+                    if len(block) == 0:
+                        abort(404)
                 block = bytesconverter.str_to_bytes(block)
                 resp = block
     if len(resp) == 0: