Java APIs

I wrote a code using plain TCPIP socket programming with java.In my code i will maintain a pool of TCPIP connections and if any request comes ,i will take a connection from the pool and uses it to send data to server.The problem is if the Server goes down and if it comes up and if im trying to send data through the socket,the TCPIP layer doesnt throw any Exceptions but the data is not reaching the Server.So is there a way of detecting this stale connection.(I dont like to connect to Server every time the request comes.I will try to use the Connection from connection pool.Thats why this problem is coming)

Thanks in Advance