diff --git a/qa/rpc-tests/httpbasics.py b/qa/rpc-tests/httpbasics.py
index 8ccb82128..b66533543 100755
--- a/qa/rpc-tests/httpbasics.py
+++ b/qa/rpc-tests/httpbasics.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ except ImportError:
 
 class HTTPBasicsTest (BitcoinTestFramework):
     def setup_nodes(self):
-        return start_nodes(4, self.options.tmpdir, extra_args=[['-rpckeepalive=1'], ['-rpckeepalive=0'], [], []])
+        return start_nodes(4, self.options.tmpdir)
 
     def run_test(self):
 
@@ -84,9 +84,8 @@ class HTTPBasicsTest (BitcoinTestFramework):
         conn.request('POST', '/', '{"method": "getbestblockhash"}', headers)
         out1 = conn.getresponse().read();
         assert_equal('"error":null' in out1, True)
-        assert_equal(conn.sock!=None, False) #connection must be closed because keep-alive was set to false
 
-        #node2 (third node) is running with standard keep-alive parameters which means keep-alive is off
+        #node2 (third node) is running with standard keep-alive parameters which means keep-alive is on
         urlNode2 = urlparse.urlparse(self.nodes[2].url)
         authpair = urlNode2.username + ':' + urlNode2.password
         headers = {"Authorization": "Basic " + base64.b64encode(authpair)}