diff --git a/tests/gem5/fixture.py b/tests/gem5/fixture.py
index ddf43d1..c22d1a3 100644
--- a/tests/gem5/fixture.py
+++ b/tests/gem5/fixture.py
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 import tempfile
 import shutil
 import sys
+import socket
 import threading
 import urllib
 import urllib2
@@ -282,7 +283,7 @@
         import datetime, time
         import _strptime # Needed for python threading bug
 
-        u = urllib2.urlopen(self.url)
+        u = urllib2.urlopen(self.url, timeout=10)
         return time.mktime(datetime.datetime.strptime( \
                     u.info().getheaders("Last-Modified")[0],
                     "%a, %d %b %Y %X GMT").timetuple())
@@ -294,7 +295,7 @@
         else:
             try:
                 t = self._getremotetime()
-            except urllib2.URLError:
+            except (urllib2.URLError, socket.timeout):
                 # Problem checking the server, use the old files.
                 log.test_log.debug("Could not contact server. Binaries may be old.")
                 return
@@ -320,7 +321,7 @@
         else:
             try:
                 t = self._getremotetime()
-            except urllib2.URLError:
+            except (urllib2.URLError, socket.timeout):
                 # Problem checking the server, use the old files.
                 log.test_log.debug("Could not contact server. "
                                    "Binaries may be old.")