diff --git a/src/gepetto/corbaserver/client.py b/src/gepetto/corbaserver/client.py
index 6f9be67e5600ceb0da48641b633b4a360b5e0580..48c36b4733c761c819f04e36fac4d9e91af9c839 100644
--- a/src/gepetto/corbaserver/client.py
+++ b/src/gepetto/corbaserver/client.py
@@ -192,12 +192,13 @@ def _getIIOPurl(service="NameService", host=None, port=None):
 
     try:
         import rospy
+        import socket
 
         # Check is ROS master is reachable.
         if rospy.client.get_master().target is not None:
             _host = rospy.get_param("/gepetto_viewer/host", _host)
             _port = rospy.get_param("/gepetto_viewer/port", _port)
-    except (ImportError, OSError):
+    except (ImportError, OSError, socket.error):
         pass
     _host = os.getenv("GEPETTO_VIEWER_HOST", _host)
     _port = os.getenv("GEPETTO_VIEWER_PORT", _port)