diff --git a/lib/tasks/gather.js b/lib/tasks/gather.js
index 2e8de2cb..fe015586 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/gather.js
+++ b/lib/tasks/gather.js
@@ -891,8 +891,9 @@ class TaskGather extends SttTask {
       if (this._timeoutTimer) {
         this._startTimer();
       }
-      /* restart asr timer if we get a partial transcript */
-      if (this.isContinuousAsr) this._startAsrTimer();
+      /* restart asr timer if we get a partial transcript (only if the asr timer is already running) */
+      /* note: https://github.com/jambonz/jambonz-feature-server/issues/866 */
+      if (this.isContinuousAsr && this._asrTimer) this._startAsrTimer();
     }
   }
   _onEndOfUtterance(cs, ep) {