diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index a51046019..0e2113e7c 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ bool AppInit2(int argc, char* argv[])
             "  -gen=0           \t\t  " + _("Don't generate coins\n") +
             "  -min             \t\t  " + _("Start minimized\n") +
             "  -datadir=<dir>   \t\t  " + _("Specify data directory\n") +
+            "  -timeout=<n>     \t  "   + _("Specify connection timeout (in milliseconds)\n") +
             "  -proxy=<ip:port> \t  "   + _("Connect through socks4 proxy\n") +
             "  -dns             \t  "   + _("Allow DNS lookups for addnode and connect\n") +
             "  -addnode=<ip>    \t  "   + _("Add a node to connect to\n") +
@@ -414,6 +415,13 @@ bool AppInit2(int argc, char* argv[])
         return false;
     }
 
+    if (mapArgs.count("-timeout"))
+    {
+        int nNewTimeout = GetArg("-timeout", 5000);
+        if (nNewTimeout > 0 && nNewTimeout < 600000)
+            nConnectTimeout = nNewTimeout;
+    }
+
     if (mapArgs.count("-printblock"))
     {
         string strMatch = mapArgs["-printblock"];
diff --git a/src/main.h b/src/main.h
index 8087df33a..436ffbecb 100644
--- a/src/main.h
+++ b/src/main.h
@@ -79,7 +79,6 @@ extern int fUseUPnP;
 
 
 
-
 bool CheckDiskSpace(uint64 nAdditionalBytes=0);
 FILE* OpenBlockFile(unsigned int nFile, unsigned int nBlockPos, const char* pszMode="rb");
 FILE* AppendBlockFile(unsigned int& nFileRet);
diff --git a/src/net.cpp b/src/net.cpp
index c884e8d5e..ca6380fc7 100644
--- a/src/net.cpp
+++ b/src/net.cpp
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ map<CInv, int64> mapAlreadyAskedFor;
 
 // Settings
 int fUseProxy = false;
+int nConnectTimeout = 5000;
 CAddress addrProxy("127.0.0.1",9050);
 
 
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ void CNode::PushGetBlocks(CBlockIndex* pindexBegin, uint256 hashEnd)
 
 
 
-bool ConnectSocket(const CAddress& addrConnect, SOCKET& hSocketRet)
+bool ConnectSocket(const CAddress& addrConnect, SOCKET& hSocketRet, int nTimeout)
 {
     hSocketRet = INVALID_SOCKET;
 
@@ -91,7 +92,86 @@ bool ConnectSocket(const CAddress& addrConnect, SOCKET& hSocketRet)
     bool fProxy = (fUseProxy && addrConnect.IsRoutable());
     struct sockaddr_in sockaddr = (fProxy ? addrProxy.GetSockAddr() : addrConnect.GetSockAddr());
 
+#ifdef __WXMSW__
+    u_long fNonblock = 1;
+    if (ioctlsocket(hSocket, FIONBIO, &fNonblock) == SOCKET_ERROR)
+#else
+    int fFlags = fcntl(hSocket, F_GETFL, 0);
+    if (fcntl(hSocket, F_SETFL, fFlags | O_NONBLOCK) == -1)
+#endif
+    {
+        closesocket(hSocket);
+        return false;
+    }
+
+
     if (connect(hSocket, (struct sockaddr*)&sockaddr, sizeof(sockaddr)) == SOCKET_ERROR)
+    {
+        // WSAEINVAL is here because some legacy version of winsock uses it
+        if (WSAGetLastError() == WSAEINPROGRESS || WSAGetLastError() == WSAEWOULDBLOCK || WSAGetLastError() == WSAEINVAL)
+        {
+            struct timeval timeout;
+            timeout.tv_sec  = nTimeout / 1000;
+            timeout.tv_usec = (nTimeout % 1000) * 1000;
+
+            fd_set fdset;
+            FD_ZERO(&fdset);
+            FD_SET(hSocket, &fdset);
+            int nRet = select(hSocket + 1, NULL, &fdset, NULL, &timeout);
+            if (nRet == 0)
+            {
+                printf("connection timeout\n");
+                closesocket(hSocket);
+                return false;
+            }
+            if (nRet == SOCKET_ERROR)
+            {
+                printf("select() for connection failed: %i\n",WSAGetLastError());
+                closesocket(hSocket);
+                return false;
+            }
+            socklen_t nRetSize = sizeof(nRet);
+#ifdef __WXMSW__
+            if (getsockopt(hSocket, SOL_SOCKET, SO_ERROR, (char*)(&nRet), &nRetSize) == SOCKET_ERROR)
+#else
+            if (getsockopt(hSocket, SOL_SOCKET, SO_ERROR, &nRet, &nRetSize) == SOCKET_ERROR)
+#endif
+            {
+                printf("getsockopt() for connection failed: %i\n",WSAGetLastError());
+                closesocket(hSocket);
+                return false;
+            }
+            if (nRet != 0)
+            {
+                printf("connect() failed after select(): %i\n",nRet);
+                closesocket(hSocket);
+                return false;
+            }
+        }
+#ifdef __WXMSW__
+        else if (WSAGetLastError() != WSAEISCONN)
+#else
+        else
+#endif
+        {
+            printf("connect() failed: %s\n",WSAGetLastError());
+            closesocket(hSocket);
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /*
+    this isn't even strictly necessary
+    CNode::ConnectNode immediately turns the socket back to non-blocking
+    but we'll turn it back to blocking just in case
+    */
+#ifdef __WXMSW__
+    fNonblock = 0;
+    if (ioctlsocket(hSocket, FIONBIO, &fNonblock) == SOCKET_ERROR)
+#else
+    fFlags = fcntl(hSocket, F_GETFL, 0);
+    if (fcntl(hSocket, F_SETFL, fFlags & !O_NONBLOCK) == SOCKET_ERROR)
+#endif
     {
         closesocket(hSocket);
         return false;
diff --git a/src/net.h b/src/net.h
index d1ded8723..8a55856ee 100644
--- a/src/net.h
+++ b/src/net.h
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ class CRequestTracker;
 class CNode;
 class CBlockIndex;
 extern int nBestHeight;
+extern int nConnectTimeout;
 
 
 
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ enum
 
 
 
-bool ConnectSocket(const CAddress& addrConnect, SOCKET& hSocketRet);
+bool ConnectSocket(const CAddress& addrConnect, SOCKET& hSocketRet, int nTimeout=nConnectTimeout);
 bool Lookup(const char *pszName, std::vector<CAddress>& vaddr, int nServices, int nMaxSolutions, bool fAllowLookup = false, int portDefault = 0, bool fAllowPort = false);
 bool Lookup(const char *pszName, CAddress& addr, int nServices, bool fAllowLookup = false, int portDefault = 0, bool fAllowPort = false);
 bool GetMyExternalIP(unsigned int& ipRet);
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index e4bf0fb10..cd0761ee3 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ T* alignup(T* p)
 typedef int socklen_t;
 #else
 #define WSAGetLastError()   errno
+#define WSAEINVAL           EINVAL
+#define WSAEALREADY         EALREADY
 #define WSAEWOULDBLOCK      EWOULDBLOCK
 #define WSAEMSGSIZE         EMSGSIZE
 #define WSAEINTR            EINTR