diff --git a/src/util.cpp b/src/util.cpp
index 31dcb57..cfd1932 100644
--- a/src/util.cpp
+++ b/src/util.cpp
@@ -839,6 +839,17 @@ time_t GetNTPTime( const char* ntpServer )
  socket.send_to(
  boost::asio::buffer(data),
  receiver_endpoint);
+ //ugly hack, CBA to switch to asio async I/O just to get a 3 sec timeout
+ int hSocket = socket.native();
+ fd_set fdset;
+ FD_ZERO(&fdset);
+ FD_SET(hSocket, &fdset);
+ struct timeval t;
+ t.tv_sec = 3;
+ t.tv_usec = 0;
+ int n_readable = select(hSocket+1, &fdset, NULL, NULL, &t);
+ if (!n_readable)
+ return time_t(0);
  socket.receive_from(
  boost::asio::buffer(data),
  sender_endpoint);
@@ -890,10 +901,17 @@ int64 GetAdjustedTime()
 
  if((time - nTimeNTPLastSync) >= (60 * 5)) // Calculate the NTP offset once every 5 min
  {
- int64 ntpTime = GetNTPTime();
- nTimeNTPOffset = ntpTime - time;
  nTimeNTPLastSync = time;
- printf("nTimeNTPOffset=%d\n",nTimeNTPOffset);
+ int64 ntpTime = GetNTPTime();
+ if (ntpTime)
+ {
+ nTimeNTPOffset = ntpTime - time;
+ printf("nTimeNTPOffset=%d\n",nTimeNTPOffset);
+ }
+ else
+ {
+ printf("NTP timeout\n");
+ }
  }
 
     return time + nTimeNTPOffset;