diff --git a/src/app.cpp b/src/app.cpp
index 05cc0f7..85607e5 100644
--- a/src/app.cpp
+++ b/src/app.cpp
@@ -5047,17 +5047,17 @@ void App::stopEmbeddedDaemon()
     // daemon flush state, save block indexes, close sockets, etc.
     bool stop_sent = false;
     
-    // Try the existing RPC connection first
+    // Try the existing RPC connection first. beginShutdown() called rpc_->requestAbort() to unblock any
+    // in-flight request — but that sticky abort (cleared only by connect()) would make THIS "stop" self-
+    // abort mid-flight (CURLE_ABORTED_BY_CALLBACK). The old async rpc_->stop() swallowed that error yet
+    // set stop_sent=true, so the daemon never heard "stop" and the working temp-connection fallback was
+    // skipped — which is why "Stop external daemon" left an external dragonxd running (it only died via
+    // the 20s force-kill). Clear the abort and send SYNCHRONOUSLY so real success is surfaced.
     if (rpc_ && rpc_->isConnected()) {
         DEBUG_LOGF("Sending stop command via existing RPC connection...\n");
-        try {
-            rpc_->stop([](const json&) {
-                DEBUG_LOGF("Stop command acknowledged by daemon\n");
-            });
+        rpc_->clearAbort();
+        if (sendStopCommandSafely(*rpc_, "existing connection stop"))
             stop_sent = true;
-        } catch (...) {
-            DEBUG_LOGF("Failed to send stop via existing connection\n");
-        }
     }
     
     // If the main connection wasn't established (e.g. daemon was still