diff --git a/py4web/server_adapters.py b/py4web/server_adapters.py
index 21f2b872c..a1707edcd 100644
--- a/py4web/server_adapters.py
+++ b/py4web/server_adapters.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ def logging_conf(level=logging.WARN, logger_name=__name__):
             log_to["filemode" ] = "w"
             log_to["encoding"] = "utf-8"
 
-        else: # sys.version_info < (3, 9)
+        else: 
             
             h = logging.FileHandler(
                   log_file,
@@ -82,12 +82,19 @@ def logging_conf(level=logging.WARN, logger_name=__name__):
     time_msg = '%H:%M:%S'
     #date_time_msg = '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'
 
-    logging.basicConfig(
-        format=short_msg,
-        datefmt=time_msg,
-        level=check_level(level),
-        **log_to,
-    )
+    try:
+
+        logging.basicConfig(
+            format=short_msg,
+            datefmt=time_msg,
+            level=check_level(level),
+            **log_to,
+        )
+
+    except ( OSError, KeyError, ValueError ) as ex:
+        print(f"{ex}, {__file__}")
+        print(f'cannot open {log_file}')
+        logging.basicConfig( level=check_level(level),)
 
     if logger_name is None:
         return None
@@ -95,6 +102,7 @@ def logging_conf(level=logging.WARN, logger_name=__name__):
     logger_name = "SA:" + logger_name
     log = logging.getLogger(logger_name)
     log.propagate = True
+
     log.info( f'info start logger {logger_name}' )
     log.warn( f'warn start logger {logger_name}' )
     log.debug( f'debug start logger {logger_name}' )