diff --git a/tests/run.sh b/tests/run.sh
index 7ceb3c57f..d3680b3b1 100755
--- a/tests/run.sh
+++ b/tests/run.sh
@@ -188,7 +188,8 @@ start_awesome() {
     cd - >/dev/null
 
     # Wait until the interface for awesome-client is ready (D-Bus interface).
-    wait_until_success "wait for awesome startup via awesome-client" "DISPLAY=$D '$AWESOME_CLIENT' 'return 1' 2>&1"
+    # Do this with dbus-send so that we can specify a low --reply-timeout
+    wait_until_success "wait for awesome startup via awesome-client" "dbus-send --reply-timeout=100 --dest=org.naquadah.awesome.awful --print-reply / org.naquadah.awesome.awful.Remote.Eval 'string:return 1' 2>&1"
 }
 
 # Count errors.