diff --git a/lib/zkruby/rubyio.rb b/lib/zkruby/rubyio.rb
index 4c26471..d1f326d 100644
--- a/lib/zkruby/rubyio.rb
+++ b/lib/zkruby/rubyio.rb
@@ -23,6 +23,16 @@
 # All interaction with the session is synchronized
 #
 # Client synchronous code is implemented with a condition variable that waits on the callback/errback 
+#
+
+# JRuby does not define Errno::NOERROR
+unless defined? Errno::NOERROR 
+    class Errno::NOERROR < SystemCallError
+        Errno = 0
+    end
+
+end
+
 module ZooKeeper::RubyIO
 
     class Connection
@@ -30,39 +40,61 @@ class Connection
         include Slf4r::Logger
         include Socket::Constants
 
+        HAS_NONBLOCKING_CONNECT = RUBY_PLATFORM == "java" && Gem::Version.new(JRUBY_VERSION.dup) >= Gem::Version.new("1.6.7")
+        SOL_TCP = IPPROTO_TCP unless defined? ::Socket::SOL_TCP
+
         def initialize(host,port,timeout,session)
             @session = session
             @write_queue = Queue.new()
 
-            # JRuby cannot do non-blocking connects, which means there is
-            # no way to properly implement the connection-timeout
-            # See http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/JRUBY-5165 
-            # In any case this should be encapsulated in TCPSocket.open(host,port,timeout)
-            if RUBY_PLATFORM == "java"
-                begin
-                    sock = TCPSocket.new(host,port.to_i)
-                rescue Errno::ECONNREFUSED
-                    logger.warn("TCP Connection refused to #{host}:#{port}")
-                    sock = nil
-                end
-            else
+            if HAS_NONBLOCKING_CONNECT
                 addr = Socket.getaddrinfo(host, nil)
                 sock = Socket.new(Socket.const_get(addr[0][0]), Socket::SOCK_STREAM, 0)
                 sock.setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_LINGER, [0,-1].pack("ii"))
-                sock.setsockopt(SOL_TCP, TCP_NODELAY,[0].pack("i_"))
+                begin
+                    sock.setsockopt(SOL_TCP, TCP_NODELAY,[0].pack("i_"))
+                rescue
+                    # JRuby defines SOL_TCP, but it doesn't work
+                    sock.setsockopt(IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY,[0].pack("i_"))
+                end
+
                 sockaddr = Socket.pack_sockaddr_in(port, addr[0][3])
                 begin
                     sock.connect_nonblock(sockaddr)
                 rescue Errno::EINPROGRESS
-                    resp = IO.select(nil, [sock], nil, timeout)
                     begin
-                        sock.connect_nonblock(sockaddr)
-                    rescue Errno::ECONNREFUSED
-                        logger.warn("Connection refused to #{ host }:#{ port }")
+                        read,write,errors  = IO.select(nil, [sock], nil, timeout)
+                    rescue Exception => ex
+                        #JRuby raises Connection Refused instead of populating error array
+                        logger.warn { "Exception #{ex.inspect} from non blocking select" }
+                    end
+                    optval = sock.getsockopt(Socket::SOL_SOCKET,Socket::SO_ERROR)
+                    sockerr = (optval.unpack "i")[0]
+                    if sockerr == Errno::NOERROR::Errno
+                        #Woohoo! we're connected (lots of example code here will call
+                        #connect_nonblock again to demonstrate EISCONN but I don't think
+                        #this is strictly necessary
+                    else
+                        if sockerr == Errno::ECONNREFUSED::Errno
+                            logger.warn("Connection refused to #{ host }:#{ port }")
+                        else
+                            logger.warn("Connection to #{ host }:#{ port } failed: #{sockerr}")
+                        end
                         sock = nil
-                    rescue Errno::EISCONN
                     end
                 end
+            else
+            # JRuby prior to 1.6.7 cannot do non-blocking connects, which means there is
+            # no way to properly implement the connection-timeout
+            # See http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/JRUBY-5165 
+            # In any case this should be encapsulated in TCPSocket.open(host,port,timeout)
+                logger.warn { "Using blocking connect (JRuby < 1.6.7)" }
+                begin
+                    sock = TCPSocket.new(host,port.to_i)
+                rescue Errno::ECONNREFUSED
+                    logger.warn("TCP Connection refused to #{host}:#{port}")
+                    sock = nil
+                end
             end
             @socket = sock
             Thread.new(sock) { |sock| write_loop(sock) } if sock
diff --git a/spec/server_helper.rb b/spec/server_helper.rb
index e4a255e..5f95fb1 100644
--- a/spec/server_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/server_helper.rb
@@ -4,15 +4,18 @@ module ZooKeeperServerHelper
 
     include Slf4r::Logger
 
+    JRUBY_COMPAT_SYSTEM = (RUBY_PLATFORM == "java" && Gem::Version.new(JRUBY_VERSION.dup) < Gem::Version.new("1.6.5"))
+
+    def jruby_safe_system(arg)
+        arg = "#{arg} &" if JRUBY_COMPAT_SYSTEM
+        system(arg)
+        sleep(3) if JRUBY_COMPAT_SYSTEM
+    end
+
     def restart_cluster(delay=0)
-        system("../../bin/zkServer.sh stop >> zk.out")
+        jruby_safe_system("../../bin/zkServer.sh stop >> zk.out")
         Kernel::sleep(delay) if delay > 0
-        if (::RUBY_PLATFORM == "java" && Gem::Version.new(JRUBY_VERSION) < Gem::Version.new("1.7.0"))
-            #in JRuby 1.6.3 system does not return 
-            system("../../bin/zkServer.sh start >> zk.out &")
-        else
-            system("../../bin/zkServer.sh start >> zk.out")
-        end
+        jruby_safe_system("../../bin/zkServer.sh start >> zk.out")
     end
 
     def get_addresses()