diff --git a/test/test_interfaces.py b/test/test_interfaces.py
index 53d89e8551..84f684c0b3 100644
--- a/test/test_interfaces.py
+++ b/test/test_interfaces.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import threading
 from comet_ml import Experiment
 import mlflow
 import wandb
+import socket
 
 os.environ["GRADIO_ANALYTICS_ENABLED"] = "False"
 
@@ -27,12 +28,13 @@ class TestInterface(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_close(self):
         io = Interface(lambda input: None, "textbox", "label")
         io.launch(prevent_thread_lock=True)
-        port1 = io.server_port
+        server_port = io.server_port
         io.close()
-        io = Interface(lambda input: None, "textbox", "label")
-        io.launch(prevent_thread_lock=True)
-        port2 = io.server_port
-        self.assertEquals(port1, port2)
+        time.sleep(1)
+        # check if port is free (if not, raises OSError)
+        s = socket.socket()  # create a socket object
+        s.bind((networking.LOCALHOST_NAME, server_port))  
+        s.close()
 
     def test_close_all(self):
         interface = Interface(lambda input: None, "textbox", "label")
diff --git a/test/test_utils.py b/test/test_utils.py
index 9c83e8293d..2f2564b21a 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/test_utils.py
@@ -101,20 +101,8 @@ class TestUtils(unittest.TestCase):
         readme_to_html("placeholder")
         
     def test_readme_to_html_correct_parse(self):
-        readme_to_html("https://github.com/gradio-app/gradio/blob/master/README.md")
+        readme_to_html("https://github.com/gradio-app/gradio/blob/master/README.md")    
 
-    def test_launch_counter(self):
-        with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as tmp:
-            with mock.patch('gradio.utils.JSON_PATH', tmp.name):
-                interface = gradio.Interface(lambda x: x, "textbox", "label")
-                os.remove(tmp.name)
-                interface.launch(prevent_thread_lock=True)
-                with open(tmp.name) as j:
-                    self.assertEqual(json.load(j)['launches'], 1)
-                interface.launch(prevent_thread_lock=True)
-                with open(tmp.name) as j:
-                    self.assertEqual(json.load(j)['launches'], 2)
-    
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()