diff --git a/interface/src/project/EMSESPSettingsController.tsx b/interface/src/project/EMSESPSettingsController.tsx
index 8385577e1..9a139ec2f 100644
--- a/interface/src/project/EMSESPSettingsController.tsx
+++ b/interface/src/project/EMSESPSettingsController.tsx
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ function EMSESPSettingsControllerForm(props: EMSESPSettingsControllerFormProps)
                     />
                     <TextValidator
                         validators={['required', 'isNumber', 'minNumber:0', 'maxNumber:65535']}
-                        errorMessages={['Keep alive is required', "Must be a number", "Must be 0 or higher (0=off)", "Max value is 65535"]}
+                        errorMessages={['Syslog Mark is required', "Must be a number", "Must be 0 or higher (0=off)", "Max value is 65535"]}
                         name="syslog_mark_interval"
                         label="Syslog Mark Interval (seconds, 0=off)"
                         fullWidth
diff --git a/src/EMSESPDevicesService.cpp b/src/EMSESPDevicesService.cpp
index 0d02fa82d..1ce990286 100644
--- a/src/EMSESPDevicesService.cpp
+++ b/src/EMSESPDevicesService.cpp
@@ -27,10 +27,9 @@ void EMSESPDevicesService::emsespDevicesService(AsyncWebServerRequest * request)
             deviceRoot["productid"] = emsdevice->product_id();
             deviceRoot["version"]   = emsdevice->version();
         }
-
-        response->setLength();
-        request->send(response);
     }
+    response->setLength();
+    request->send(response);
 }
 
 } // namespace emsesp
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/mqtt.cpp b/src/mqtt.cpp
index 6232d92eb..25b00e4a3 100644
--- a/src/mqtt.cpp
+++ b/src/mqtt.cpp
@@ -256,6 +256,9 @@ void Mqtt::start(AsyncMqttClient * mqttClient) {
 
 #ifndef EMSESP_STANDALONE
     mqttClient_->setWill(make_topic(will_topic_, "status"), 1, true, "offline"); // with qos 1, retain true
+    mqttClient_->onMessage([this](char * topic, char * payload, AsyncMqttClientMessageProperties properties, size_t len, size_t index, size_t total) {
+        on_message(topic, payload, len);
+    });
 #endif
 }
 
diff --git a/src/roomcontrol.cpp b/src/roomcontrol.cpp
index e1ab12430..96e801dbb 100644
--- a/src/roomcontrol.cpp
+++ b/src/roomcontrol.cpp
@@ -65,18 +65,17 @@ void Roomctrl::check(const uint8_t addr, const uint8_t * data) {
     if (hc_ > 3) {
         return;
     }
-    // no reply if the temperature is not set
-    if (remotetemp[hc_] == EMS_VALUE_SHORT_NOTSET) {
-        return;
-    }
     // reply to writes with write nack byte
     if (addr & 0x80) { // it's a write to us
         nack_write();  // we don't accept writes.
         return;
     }
-    // for now we only reply to version and remote temperature
+    // reads: for now we only reply to version and remote temperature
+    // empty message back if temperature not set or unknown message type
     if (data[2] == 0x02) {
         version(addr, data[0]);
+    } else if (remotetemp[hc_] == EMS_VALUE_SHORT_NOTSET) {
+        unknown(addr, data[0], data[2], data[3]);
     } else if (data[2] == 0xAF && data[3] == 0) {
         temperature(addr, data[0]);
     } else {
diff --git a/src/telegram.cpp b/src/telegram.cpp
index e8092c211..d0309195c 100644
--- a/src/telegram.cpp
+++ b/src/telegram.cpp
@@ -205,11 +205,6 @@ void RxService::add(uint8_t * data, uint8_t length) {
         message_length = length - 6 - shift;
     }
 
-    // if we don't have a type_id or empty data block, exit
-    if ((type_id == 0) || (message_length == 0)) {
-        return;
-    }
-
     // if we're watching and "raw" print out actual telegram as bytes to the console
     if (EMSESP::watch() == EMSESP::Watch::WATCH_RAW) {
         uint16_t trace_watch_id = EMSESP::watch_id();
@@ -222,6 +217,11 @@ void RxService::add(uint8_t * data, uint8_t length) {
     LOG_DEBUG(F("[DEBUG] New Rx [#%d] telegram, message length %d"), rx_telegram_id_, message_length);
 #endif
 
+    // if we don't have a type_id or empty data block, exit
+    if ((type_id == 0) || (message_length == 0)) {
+        return;
+    }
+
     // create the telegram
     auto telegram = std::make_shared<Telegram>(Telegram::Operation::RX, src, dest, type_id, offset, message_data, message_length);
 
@@ -233,7 +233,6 @@ void RxService::add(uint8_t * data, uint8_t length) {
     rx_telegrams_.emplace_back(rx_telegram_id_++, std::move(telegram)); // add to queue
 }
 
-
 //
 // Tx CODE starts here...
 //