diff --git a/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/session.rs b/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/session.rs
index a5d3a92a..f85d9170 100644
--- a/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/session.rs
+++ b/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/session.rs
@@ -372,6 +372,16 @@ pub struct DeviceProbe {
     pub max_contacts: Option<u16>,
 }
 
+/// Serializes serial-port open sequences between the listener's session
+/// opens and the RPC probe (`mesh.probe-device`). Linux happily double-opens
+/// a tty, and two concurrent handshakes corrupt each other into silence —
+/// observed live on .116 (2026-07-26): the kiosk browser's hot-swap
+/// auto-probe collided with the listener's cycle on every backoff window, so
+/// neither ever succeeded, and each collision's open() DTR/RTS-reset the
+/// board again. The probe's retry-across-idle-gaps heuristic (5f01ec31)
+/// narrowed but could not close the race; this closes it.
+static PORT_OPEN_LOCK: tokio::sync::Mutex<()> = tokio::sync::Mutex::const_new(());
+
 /// Probe a serial port for a mesh radio WITHOUT provisioning it: identify the
 /// firmware (same strict Reticulum→Meshcore→Meshtastic order as auto-detect,
 /// for the same RNode-wedging reason) and read what's currently configured on
@@ -379,11 +389,10 @@ pub struct DeviceProbe {
 /// loop can pick the device up afterwards. Reticulum uses the bare KISS
 /// DETECT probe — no daemon spawn just to identify a stick.
 pub(crate) async fn probe_device(path: &str) -> Result<DeviceProbe> {
-    // The listener's reconnect loop may hold this port for ~10s of every
-    // backoff cycle, and Linux happily double-opens a tty — two concurrent
-    // handshakes corrupt each other into silence (observed on framework-pt:
-    // every firmware "failed" while the listener was mid-cycle). Retry across
-    // the listener's idle gaps instead of failing on first collision.
+    // Retries kept even with PORT_OPEN_LOCK closing the double-open race:
+    // the board may still be mid-boot from a previous open's DTR/RTS reset,
+    // and a later attempt after a quiet gap can succeed where the first
+    // couldn't.
     let mut last_err = None;
     for attempt in 0..3u32 {
         if attempt > 0 {
@@ -398,6 +407,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn probe_device(path: &str) -> Result<DeviceProbe> {
 }
 
 async fn probe_device_once(path: &str) -> Result<DeviceProbe> {
+    let _port_guard = PORT_OPEN_LOCK.lock().await;
     if super::super::reticulum::probe_rnode(path).await.is_ok() {
         return Ok(DeviceProbe {
             path: path.to_string(),
@@ -976,6 +986,11 @@ pub(super) async fn run_mesh_session(
     // set, otherwise try the preferred serial path, falling back to
     // auto-detect. TCP mode is additive/dev-only; it never changes behavior
     // for existing serial/RNode deployments where `reticulum_tcp` is None.
+    //
+    // The whole open sequence runs under PORT_OPEN_LOCK so an RPC probe
+    // can't interleave its own handshakes on the same tty (see the lock's
+    // doc comment). Held only until the device is opened, then released.
+    let port_guard = PORT_OPEN_LOCK.lock().await;
     let (device_path, mut device, device_info) = if let Some(tcp_cfg) = &reticulum_tcp {
         open_reticulum_tcp(tcp_cfg, data_dir, our_ed_pubkey_hex, our_x25519_pubkey_hex).await?
     } else if let Some(path) = preferred_path {
@@ -1014,6 +1029,7 @@ pub(super) async fn run_mesh_session(
         )
         .await?
     };
+    drop(port_guard);
 
     // Update status
     {