diff --git a/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/cluster/kickstarter.js b/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/cluster/kickstarter.js
index 7332bb6fd0..6eca3f46a5 100644
--- a/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/cluster/kickstarter.js
+++ b/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/cluster/kickstarter.js
@@ -493,6 +493,9 @@ shutdownActions.startServers = function (dispatchers, cmd, run) {
   var i;
   var url;
   var r;
+  var serverStates = {};
+  var error = false;
+
   for (i = 0;i < run.endpoints.length;i++) {
     console.info("Using API to shutdown %s", JSON.stringify(run.pids[i]));
     url = endpointToURL(run.endpoints[i])+"/_admin/shutdown";
@@ -514,13 +517,20 @@ shutdownActions.startServers = function (dispatchers, cmd, run) {
   for (i = 0;i < run.pids.length;i++) {
     var s = statusExternal(run.pids[i]);
     if (s.status !== "TERMINATED") {
-      console.info("Shutting down %s the hard way...",
-                   JSON.stringify(run.pids[i]));
-      killExternal(run.pids[i]);
-      console.info("done.");
+      if (s.hasOwnProperty('signal')) {
+        error = true;
+        console.info("done - with problems: " + s);
+      }
+      else {
+        console.info("Shutting down %s the hard way...",
+                     JSON.stringify(run.pids[i]));
+        s.killedState = killExternal(run.pids[i]);
+        console.info("done.");
+      }
+      serverStates[run.pids[i]] = s;
     }
   }
-  return {"error": false, "isStartServers": true};
+  return {"error": error, "isStartServers": true, "serverStates" : serverStates};
 };
 
 cleanupActions.startAgent = function (dispatchers, cmd) {
diff --git a/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/testing.js b/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/testing.js
index d8e8d6691e..1652db87bc 100644
--- a/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/testing.js
+++ b/js/server/modules/org/arangodb/testing.js
@@ -433,26 +433,59 @@ function checkInstanceAlive(instanceInfo, options) {
 }
 
 function shutdownInstance (instanceInfo, options) {
+  if (!checkInstanceAlive(instanceInfo, options)) {
+      print("Server already dead, doing nothing. This shouldn't happen?");    
+  }
   if (options.cluster) {
-    instanceInfo.kickstarter.shutdown();
+    var rc = instanceInfo.kickstarter.shutdown();
     if (options.cleanup) {
       instanceInfo.kickstarter.cleanup();
     }
+    if (rc.error) {
+      for (var i in rc.serverStates) {
+        if (rc.serverStates.hasOwnProperty(i)){
+          if (rc.serverStates[i].hasOwnProperty('signal')) {
+            print("Server shut down with : " + rc.serverStates[i] + " marking run as crashy.");
+            serverCrashed = true;
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
   }
   else {
     if (typeof(instanceInfo.exitStatus) === 'undefined') {
       download(instanceInfo.url+"/_admin/shutdown","",
                makeAuthorisationHeaders(options));
 
-      if (typeof(options.valgrind) === 'string') {
-        print("Waiting for server shut down");
-        var res = statusExternal(instanceInfo.pid, true);
-        print("Server gone: ");
-        print(res);
-      }
-      else {
-        wait(10);
-        killExternal(instanceInfo.pid);
+      print("Waiting for server shut down");
+      var count = 0;
+      while (1) {
+        instanceInfo.exitStatus = statusExternal(instanceInfo.pid, false);
+        if (instanceInfo.exitStatus.status === "RUNNING") {
+          count ++;
+          if (typeof(options.valgrind) === 'string') {
+            continue;
+          }
+          if (count > 10) {
+            print("forcefully terminating " + instanceInfo.pid + " after 10 s grace period.");
+            serverCrashed = true;
+            killExternal(instanceInfo.pid);
+            break;
+          }
+          else {
+            wait(1);
+          }
+        }      
+        else if (instanceInfo.exitStatus.status !== "TERMINATED") {
+          if (instanceInfo.exitStatus.hasOwnProperty('signal')) {
+            print("Server shut down with : " + instanceInfo.exitStatus + " marking build as crashy.");
+            serverCrashed = true;
+          }
+        }
+        else {
+          print("Server shutdown: Success.");
+          break; // Success.
+        }
       }
     }
     else {