diff --git a/statusline.ps1 b/statusline.ps1
index 9ded23c..44b0824 100644
--- a/statusline.ps1
+++ b/statusline.ps1
@@ -441,7 +441,14 @@ if ($versionNeedsRefresh) {
             -Headers @{ "Accept" = "application/vnd.github+json" } -Method Get -TimeoutSec 5 -ErrorAction Stop
         $versionData = $vcResponse | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10
         $versionData | Set-Content $versionCacheFile -Force
-    } catch {}
+    } catch {
+        # Fetch failed — if the cache has no usable content, drop the empty
+        # stampede lock so the next render retries instead of the fresh mtime
+        # suppressing update checks for the full 24h TTL.
+        if ((Test-Path $versionCacheFile) -and (Get-Item $versionCacheFile).Length -eq 0) {
+            Remove-Item $versionCacheFile -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 $updateLine = ""
diff --git a/statusline.sh b/statusline.sh
index 0581d67..c2cecdf 100755
--- a/statusline.sh
+++ b/statusline.sh
@@ -468,6 +468,11 @@ if $version_needs_refresh; then
     if [ -n "$vc_response" ] && echo "$vc_response" | jq -e '.tag_name' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
         version_data="$vc_response"
         echo "$vc_response" > "$version_cache_file"
+    elif [ ! -s "$version_cache_file" ]; then
+        # Fetch failed and the cache has no usable content — drop the empty
+        # stampede lock so the next render retries instead of the fresh mtime
+        # suppressing update checks for the full 24h TTL.
+        rm -f "$version_cache_file" 2>/dev/null
     fi
 fi