diff --git a/bin/dbwriter b/bin/dbwriter
index f4be279423ce3ac8dec95db075710e5bc8758d0a..0c69678c1614b9769d6581c759f8c1a5729d8c64 100755
--- a/bin/dbwriter
+++ b/bin/dbwriter
@@ -65,7 +65,9 @@ logger.info("dbwriter starting up");
 // This is in front of logging on purpose.  see issue #537
 heartbeat.setup(app, function(cb) {
   // ping the database to verify we're really healthy.
-  db.ping(cb);
+  db.ping(function(e) {
+    cb(e === undefined);
+  });
 });
 
 // logging!  all requests other than __heartbeat__ are logged