diff --git a/psycopg/connection_int.c b/psycopg/connection_int.c
index dd805767..e564cfc7 100644
--- a/psycopg/connection_int.c
+++ b/psycopg/connection_int.c
@@ -374,8 +374,6 @@ conn_sync_connect(connectionObject *self)
 
     Dprintf("conn_connect: using protocol %d", self->protocol);
 
-    self->server_version = (int)PQserverVersion(pgconn);
-
     /* if the connection is green, wait to finish connection */
     if (green) {
         wait_rv = psyco_wait(self);
@@ -386,6 +384,8 @@ conn_sync_connect(connectionObject *self)
         }
     }
 
+    self->server_version = (int)PQserverVersion(pgconn);
+
     /* From here the connection is considered ready: with the new status,
      * poll() will use PQisBusy instead of PQconnectPoll.
      */
diff --git a/tests/test_connection.py b/tests/test_connection.py
index 277616b4..dbb80afa 100644
--- a/tests/test_connection.py
+++ b/tests/test_connection.py
@@ -45,8 +45,12 @@ class ConnectionTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assert_(conn.notices)
         conn.close()
 
+    def test_server_version(self):
+        conn = self.connect()
+        self.assert_(conn.server_version)
+
 def test_suite():
     return unittest.TestLoader().loadTestsFromName(__name__)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    unittest.main()
\ No newline at end of file
+    unittest.main()