diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.md b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
index 2f5544a..d9380b7 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
-Release/4.1
-===========
+pvaClientCPP - Release/4.2
+==========================
+
+PvaClientMultiChannel
+---------------------
+
+checkConnected() now throws an exception if connect fails.
+
+
+
+pvaClientCPP - Release/4.1
+==========================
 
 This is for EPICS V4 release 4.5
 
diff --git a/src/pvaClientMultiChannel.cpp b/src/pvaClientMultiChannel.cpp
index b6da0e0..0c2e173 100644
--- a/src/pvaClientMultiChannel.cpp
+++ b/src/pvaClientMultiChannel.cpp
@@ -75,7 +75,11 @@ void PvaClientMultiChannel::destroy()
 
 void PvaClientMultiChannel::checkConnected()
 {
-    if(numConnected==0) connect(3.0);
+    if(numConnected==0){
+        Status status = connect(3.0);
+        if(status.isOK()) return;
+        throw std::runtime_error("pvaClientMultiChannel connect failure");
+    }
 }
 
 epics::pvData::shared_vector<const string> PvaClientMultiChannel::getChannelNames()