diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index eb7fd41e..6625fbfa 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 - add compute reordering, plus some new API to support it:
   vips_reorder_margin_hint() and vips_reorder_prepare_many(), thanks
   aferrero2707
-- kick load operations from cache on read error, thanks gaillard 
+- kick jpg, tif, png load operations from cache on read error, thanks gaillard 
 
 8/12/16 started 8.4.5
 - allow libgsf-1.14.26 to help centos, thanks tdiprima
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/fits.c b/libvips/foreign/fits.c
index dac90adb..bf25aa1e 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/fits.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/fits.c
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@
  * 4/1/17
  * 	- load to equivalent data type, not raw image data type ... improves
  * 	  support for BSCALE / BZERO settings
+ * 17/1/17
+ * 	- invalidate operation on read error
  */
 
 /*
@@ -360,6 +362,25 @@ vips__fits_read_header( const char *filename, VipsImage *out )
 	return( 0 );
 }
 
+static int
+vips_fits_read_subset( VipsFits *fits, 
+	long fpixel[MAX_DIMENSIONS], long lpixel[MAX_DIMENSIONS], 
+	long inc[MAX_DIMENSIONS], VipsPel *q )
+{
+	int status;
+
+	if( fits_read_subset( fits->fptr, fits->datatype, 
+		fpixel, lpixel, inc, 
+		NULL, q, NULL, &status ) ) {
+		vips_fits_error( status );
+		vips_foreign_load_invalidate( fits->image );
+
+		return( -1 ); 
+	}
+
+	return( 0 );
+}
+
 static int
 fits2vips_generate( VipsRegion *out, 
 	void *seq, void *a, void *b, gboolean *stop )
@@ -369,14 +390,11 @@ fits2vips_generate( VipsRegion *out,
 
 	VipsPel *q;
 	int z;
-	int status;
 
 	long fpixel[MAX_DIMENSIONS];
 	long lpixel[MAX_DIMENSIONS];
 	long inc[MAX_DIMENSIONS];
 
-	status = 0;
-
 	VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "fits2vips_generate: "
 		"generating left = %d, top = %d, width = %d, height = %d\n", 
 		r->left, r->top, r->width, r->height );
@@ -407,10 +425,7 @@ fits2vips_generate( VipsRegion *out,
 		/* Break on ffgsv() for this call.
 		 */
 		g_mutex_lock( fits->lock );
-		if( fits_read_subset( fits->fptr, fits->datatype, 
-			fpixel, lpixel, inc, 
-			NULL, q, NULL, &status ) ) {
-			vips_fits_error( status );
+		if( vips_fits_read_subset( fits, fpixel, lpixel, inc, q ) ) {
 			g_mutex_unlock( fits->lock );
 			return( -1 );
 		}
@@ -440,10 +455,8 @@ fits2vips_generate( VipsRegion *out,
 			/* Break on ffgsv() for this call.
 			 */
 			g_mutex_lock( fits->lock );
-			if( fits_read_subset( fits->fptr, fits->datatype, 
-				fpixel, lpixel, inc, 
-				NULL, q, NULL, &status ) ) {
-				vips_fits_error( status );
+			if( vips_fits_read_subset( fits, 
+				fpixel, lpixel, inc, q ) ) { 
 				g_mutex_unlock( fits->lock );
 				return( -1 );
 			}
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/foreign.c b/libvips/foreign/foreign.c
index a661a222..1c38a0f0 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/foreign.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/foreign.c
@@ -1021,12 +1021,12 @@ vips_foreign_load_init( VipsForeignLoad *load )
  *
  * Loaders can call this on the image they are making if they see a read error
  * from the load library. It signals "invalidate" on the load operation and
- * will cause it for be dropped from ache. 
+ * will cause it for be dropped from cache. 
  *
- * If we know a file will cause a read error, we don't want to cache the error
- * operation, we want to make sure the image will really be opened again if our
- * caller tries again. For example, a broken file might be replaced by a
- * working one. 
+ * If we know a file will cause a read error, we don't want to cache the
+ * failing operation, we want to make sure the image will really be opened 
+ * again if our caller tries again. For example, a broken file might be 
+ * replaced by a working one. 
  */
 void
 vips_foreign_load_invalidate( VipsImage *image )
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/jpeg2vips.c b/libvips/foreign/jpeg2vips.c
index 5c127041..280601cb 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/jpeg2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/jpeg2vips.c
@@ -77,15 +77,14 @@
  * 11/7/16
  * 	- new --fail handling
  * 07/09/16
- *      - Don't use the exif resolution if x_resolution / y_resolution /
+ *      - don't use the exif resolution if x_resolution / y_resolution /
  *        resolution_unit is missing
-<<<<<<< HEAD
  * 7/11/16
  * 	- exif handling moved out to exif.c
-=======
  * 4/1/17
- * 	- Don't warn for missing exif res, since we fall back to jfif now
->>>>>>> master
+ * 	- don't warn for missing exif res, since we fall back to jfif now
+ * 17/1/17
+ * 	- invalidate operation on read error
  */
 
 /*
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c b/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c
index 5fae35ce..b1733c9c 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c
@@ -169,6 +169,8 @@
  * 	- add autorotate support
  * 17/11/16
  * 	- add multi-page read 
+ * 17/1/17
+ * 	- invalidate operation on read error
  */
 
 /*
@@ -437,16 +439,17 @@ get_orientation( TIFF *tiff )
 }
 
 static int
-strip_read( TIFF *tiff, int strip, tdata_t buf )
+rtiff_strip_read( Rtiff *rtiff, int strip, tdata_t buf )
 {
 	tsize_t length;
 
 #ifdef DEBUG
-	printf( "strip_read: reading strip %d\n", strip ); 
+	printf( "rtiff_strip_read: reading strip %d\n", strip ); 
 #endif /*DEBUG*/
 
-	length = TIFFReadEncodedStrip( tiff, strip, buf, (tsize_t) -1 );
+	length = TIFFReadEncodedStrip( rtiff->tiff, strip, buf, (tsize_t) -1 );
 	if( length == -1 ) {
+		vips_foreign_load_invalidate( rtiff->out );
 		vips_error( "tiff2vips", "%s", _( "read error" ) );
 		return( -1 );
 	}
@@ -1344,6 +1347,17 @@ rtiff_seq_start( VipsImage *out, void *a, void *b )
 	return( (void *) buf );
 }
 
+static int
+rtiff_read_tile( Rtiff *rtiff, tdata_t *buf, int x, int y )
+{
+	if( TIFFReadTile( rtiff->tiff, buf, x, y, 0, 0 ) < 0 ) { 
+		vips_foreign_load_invalidate( rtiff->out );
+		return( -1 ); 
+	}
+
+	return( 0 ); 
+}
+
 /* Paint a tile from the file. This is a
  * special-case for when a region is exactly a tiff tile, and pixels need no
  * conversion. In this case, libtiff can read tiles directly to our output
@@ -1370,9 +1384,9 @@ rtiff_fill_region_aligned( VipsRegion *out, void *seq, void *a, void *b )
 
 	/* Read that tile directly into the vips tile.
 	 */
-	if( TIFFReadTile( rtiff->tiff, 
-		VIPS_REGION_ADDR( out, r->left, r->top ), 
-		r->left, r->top, 0, 0 ) < 0 ) {
+	if( rtiff_read_tile( rtiff,
+		(tdata_t *) VIPS_REGION_ADDR( out, r->left, r->top ), 
+		r->left, r->top ) ) {
 		VIPS_GATE_STOP( "rtiff_fill_region_aligned: work" ); 
 		return( -1 );
 	}
@@ -1436,8 +1450,7 @@ rtiff_fill_region( VipsRegion *out, void *seq, void *a, void *b, gboolean *stop
 			int ys = (page_y / tile_height) * tile_height;
 
 			if( rtiff_set_page( rtiff, page_no ) ||
-				TIFFReadTile( rtiff->tiff, 
-					buf, xs, ys, 0, 0 ) < 0 ) {
+				rtiff_read_tile( rtiff, buf, xs, ys ) ) { 
 				VIPS_GATE_STOP( "rtiff_fill_region: work" ); 
 				return( -1 );
 			}
@@ -1640,7 +1653,7 @@ rtiff_strip_read_interleaved( Rtiff *rtiff, tstrip_t strip, tdata_t buf )
 			VipsPel *p;
 			VipsPel *q;
 
-			if( strip_read( rtiff->tiff,
+			if( rtiff_strip_read( rtiff,
 				strips_per_plane * i + strip, 
 				rtiff->plane_buf ) )
 				return( -1 );
@@ -1657,7 +1670,7 @@ rtiff_strip_read_interleaved( Rtiff *rtiff, tstrip_t strip, tdata_t buf )
 		}
 	}
 	else { 
-		if( strip_read( rtiff->tiff, strip, buf ) )
+		if( rtiff_strip_read( rtiff, strip, buf ) )
 			return( -1 );
 	}
 
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/vipspng.c b/libvips/foreign/vipspng.c
index 3e85ab32..cbd6b23f 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/vipspng.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/vipspng.c
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@
  * 	  fd during file read, handy for large numbers of input images 
  * 31/7/16
  * 	- support --strip option
- *
+ * 17/1/17
+ * 	- invalidate operation on read error
  */
 
 /*
@@ -512,6 +513,11 @@ png2vips_generate( VipsRegion *or,
 		if( !setjmp( png_jmpbuf( read->pPng ) ) ) 
 			png_read_row( read->pPng, q, NULL );
 		else { 
+			/* We've failed to read some pixels. Knock this 
+			 * operation out of cache. 
+			 */
+			vips_foreign_load_invalidate( read->out );
+
 #ifdef DEBUG
 			printf( "png2vips_generate: png_read_row() failed, "
 				"line %d\n", r->top + y );