diff --git a/test/simple/simple.status b/test/simple/simple.status
index c430bf56686..3644af3dfe3 100644
--- a/test/simple/simple.status
+++ b/test/simple/simple.status
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ test-tls-securepair-server              : PASS,FLAKY
 test-timers-first-fire                  : PASS,FLAKY
  
 [$system==linux]
-test-abort-fatal-error                  : PASS,FLAKY
 test-debugger-client                    : PASS,FLAKY
 test-process-argv-0                     : PASS,FLAKY
 test-cluster-master-kill                : PASS,FLAKY
@@ -29,7 +28,6 @@ test-cluster-master-error               : PASS,FLAKY
 test-http-exit-delay                    : PASS,FLAKY
 
 [$system==solaris]
-test-abort-fatal-error                  : PASS,FLAKY
 test-debugger-repl                      : PASS,FLAKY
 test-debugger-repl-break-in-module      : PASS,FLAKY
 test-debugger-repl-utf8                 : PASS,FLAKY
diff --git a/test/simple/test-abort-fatal-error.js b/test/simple/test-abort-fatal-error.js
index 81c4ca5588f..64d31d9e881 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-abort-fatal-error.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-abort-fatal-error.js
@@ -30,10 +30,21 @@ if (process.platform === 'win32') {
 var exec = require('child_process').exec;
 
 var cmdline = 'ulimit -c 0; ' + process.execPath;
-cmdline += ' --max-old-space-size=1 --max-new-space-size=1';
-cmdline += ' -e "setInterval(function() { new Buffer(1024); }, 1);"';
+cmdline += ' --max-old-space-size=4 --max-new-space-size=1';
+cmdline += ' -e "a = []; for (i = 0; i < 1e9; i++) { a.push({}) }"';
 
 exec(cmdline, function(err, stdout, stderr) {
-  assert(err);
-  assert(stderr.toString().match(/abort/i));
+  if (!err) {
+    console.log(stdout);
+    console.log(stderr);
+    assert(false, 'this test should fail');
+    return;
+  }
+
+  if (err.code !== 134 && err.signal !== 'SIGABRT') {
+    console.log(stdout);
+    console.log(stderr);
+    console.log(err);
+    assert(false, err);
+  }
 });