diff --git a/src/memory/disco.py b/src/memory/disco.py
index 67cbf93a..2887a4a9 100755
--- a/src/memory/disco.py
+++ b/src/memory/disco.py
@@ -350,4 +350,11 @@ class Discovery(object):
         profile = self.host.memory.getProfileName(profile_key)
         entity = jid.JID(entity_jid_s)
         disco_items = yield self.getItems(entity, profile=profile)
-        defer.returnValue([(item.entity.full(), item.nodeIdentifier or '', item.name or '') for item in disco_items])
+        try:
+            ret = [(item.entity.full(), item.nodeIdentifier or '', item.name or '') for item in disco_items]
+        except AttributeError:
+            log.error(u"error while getting items from {entity}, it may result from invalid item(s)".format(entity=entity.full()))
+            # second try by ignoring empty items
+            ret = [(item.entity.full(), item.nodeIdentifier or '', item.name or '') for item in disco_items if item.entity]
+
+        defer.returnValue(ret)