Handle handler error during initialisation

[cdjackson]

If there is an error with the communications during initialisation, but after the version was requested, then the request to get the network parameter returns null, and this causes an NPE which is not handled, and results in no notification higher up the stack. Ultimately this block the initialize method returning.

This checks for null return, then checks if the ASH handler is alive at the end of initialisation. Any error will result in an error return from initialize().