Index: Lib/_pyio.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/_pyio.py	(revision 80368)
+++ Lib/_pyio.py	(working copy)
@@ -331,6 +331,7 @@
 
         This is not implemented for read-only and non-blocking streams.
         """
+        self._checkClosed()
         # XXX Should this return the number of bytes written???
 
     __closed = False
@@ -341,10 +342,7 @@
         This method has no effect if the file is already closed.
         """
         if not self.__closed:
-            try:
-                self.flush()
-            except IOError:
-                pass  # If flush() fails, just give up
+            self.flush()
             self.__closed = True
 
     def __del__(self):
@@ -713,14 +711,13 @@
     ### Flush and close ###
 
     def flush(self):
+        if self.closed:
+            raise ValueError("flush of closed file")
         self.raw.flush()
 
     def close(self):
-        if not self.closed and self.raw is not None:
-            try:
-                self.flush()
-            except IOError:
-                pass  # If flush() fails, just give up
+        if self.raw is not None and not self.closed:
+            self.flush()
             self.raw.close()
 
     def detach(self):
@@ -1535,11 +1532,8 @@
         self._telling = self._seekable
 
     def close(self):
-        if self.buffer is not None:
-            try:
-                self.flush()
-            except IOError:
-                pass  # If flush() fails, just give up
+        if self.buffer is not None and not self.closed:
+            self.flush()
             self.buffer.close()
 
     @property
Index: Lib/test/test_io.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_io.py	(revision 80368)
+++ Lib/test/test_io.py	(working copy)
@@ -538,6 +538,20 @@
         with self.open(zero, "r") as f:
             self.assertRaises(OverflowError, f.read)
 
+    def test_flush_error_on_close(self): 
+        f = self.open(support.TESTFN, "wb", buffering=0)
+        def bad_flush():
+            raise IOError()
+        f.flush = bad_flush
+        self.assertRaises(IOError, f.close) # exception not swallowed
+    
+    def test_multi_close(self):
+        f = self.open(support.TESTFN, "wb", buffering=0)
+        f.close()
+        f.close()
+        f.close()
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, f.flush)
+        
 class CIOTest(IOTest):
     pass
 
@@ -638,8 +652,24 @@
         self.assertEqual(repr(b), "<%s name=u'dummy'>" % clsname)
         raw.name = b"dummy"
         self.assertEqual(repr(b), "<%s name='dummy'>" % clsname)
-
-
+        
+    def test_flush_error_on_close(self): 
+        raw = self.MockRawIO()
+        def bad_flush():
+            raise IOError()
+        raw.flush = bad_flush
+        b = self.tp(raw) 
+        self.assertRaises(IOError, b.close) # exception not swallowed
+        
+    def test_multi_close(self):
+        raw = self.MockRawIO()
+        b = self.tp(raw) 
+        b.close()
+        b.close()
+        b.close()
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, b.flush)
+        
+        
 class BufferedReaderTest(unittest.TestCase, CommonBufferedTests):
     read_mode = "rb"
 
@@ -2112,6 +2142,21 @@
             for n in range(20):
                 self.assertEquals(content.count("Thread%03d\n" % n), 1)
 
+                
+    def test_flush_error_on_close(self):
+        txt = self.TextIOWrapper(self.BytesIO(self.testdata), encoding="ascii")
+        def bad_flush():
+            raise IOError()
+        txt.flush = bad_flush
+        self.assertRaises(IOError, txt.close) # exception not swallowed
+    
+    def test_multi_close(self):
+        txt = self.TextIOWrapper(self.BytesIO(self.testdata), encoding="ascii")
+        txt.close()
+        txt.close()
+        txt.close()
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, txt.flush)
+                
 class CTextIOWrapperTest(TextIOWrapperTest):
 
     def test_initialization(self):
Index: Modules/_io/bufferedio.c
===================================================================
--- Modules/_io/bufferedio.c	(revision 80368)
+++ Modules/_io/bufferedio.c	(working copy)
@@ -440,11 +440,7 @@
     res = PyObject_CallMethodObjArgs((PyObject *)self, _PyIO_str_flush, NULL);
     ENTER_BUFFERED(self)
     if (res == NULL) {
-        /* If flush() fails, just give up */
-        if (PyErr_ExceptionMatches(PyExc_IOError))
-            PyErr_Clear();
-        else
-            goto end;
+        goto end;
     }
     Py_XDECREF(res);
 
Index: Modules/_io/bytesio.c
===================================================================
--- Modules/_io/bytesio.c	(revision 80368)
+++ Modules/_io/bytesio.c	(working copy)
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@
 static PyObject *
 bytesio_flush(bytesio *self)
 {
+    CHECK_CLOSED(self);
     Py_RETURN_NONE;
 }
 
Index: Modules/_io/iobase.c
===================================================================
--- Modules/_io/iobase.c	(revision 80368)
+++ Modules/_io/iobase.c	(working copy)
@@ -183,11 +183,7 @@
     res = PyObject_CallMethodObjArgs(self, _PyIO_str_flush, NULL);
     PyObject_SetAttrString(self, "__IOBase_closed", Py_True);
     if (res == NULL) {
-        /* If flush() fails, just give up */
-        if (PyErr_ExceptionMatches(PyExc_IOError))
-            PyErr_Clear();
-        else
-            return NULL;
+        return NULL;
     }
     Py_XDECREF(res);
     Py_RETURN_NONE;
Index: Modules/_io/textio.c
===================================================================
--- Modules/_io/textio.c	(revision 80368)
+++ Modules/_io/textio.c	(working copy)
@@ -2405,16 +2405,30 @@
 textiowrapper_close(textio *self, PyObject *args)
 {
     PyObject *res;
+    int r;
     CHECK_INITIALIZED(self);
-    res = PyObject_CallMethod((PyObject *)self, "flush", NULL);
-    if (res == NULL) {
-        /* If flush() fails, just give up */
-        PyErr_Clear();
+
+    res = textiowrapper_closed_get(self, NULL);
+    if (res == NULL)
+        return NULL;
+    r = PyObject_IsTrue(res);
+    Py_DECREF(res);
+    if (r < 0)
+        return NULL;
+    
+    if (r > 0) {
+        Py_RETURN_NONE; // stream already closed
     }
-    else
-        Py_DECREF(res);
+    else {
+        res = PyObject_CallMethod((PyObject *)self, "flush", NULL);
+        if (res == NULL) {
+            return NULL;
+        }
+        else
+            Py_DECREF(res);
 
-    return PyObject_CallMethod(self->buffer, "close", NULL);
+        return PyObject_CallMethod(self->buffer, "close", NULL);
+    }
 }
 
 static PyObject *