diff --git a/include/dba.php b/include/dba.php
index af571f2458..586fc092fb 100644
--- a/include/dba.php
+++ b/include/dba.php
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ use Friendica\Util\DateTimeFormat;
  */
 
 class dba {
-	public static $connected = true;
+	public static $connected = false;
 
 	private static $_server_info = '';
 	private static $db;
@@ -48,8 +48,6 @@ class dba {
 		$db = trim($db);
 
 		if (!(strlen($server) && strlen($user))) {
-			self::$connected = false;
-			self::$db = null;
 			return false;
 		}
 
@@ -57,8 +55,6 @@ class dba {
 			if (strlen($server) && ($server !== 'localhost') && ($server !== '127.0.0.1')) {
 				if (! dns_get_record($server, DNS_A + DNS_CNAME + DNS_PTR)) {
 					self::$error = L10n::t('Cannot locate DNS info for database server \'%s\'', $server);
-					self::$connected = false;
-					self::$db = null;
 					return false;
 				}
 			}
@@ -79,7 +75,6 @@ class dba {
 				self::$db = @new PDO($connect, $user, $pass);
 				self::$connected = true;
 			} catch (PDOException $e) {
-				self::$connected = false;
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -98,13 +93,10 @@ class dba {
 		// No suitable SQL driver was found.
 		if (!self::$connected) {
 			self::$db = null;
-			if (!$install) {
-				System::unavailable();
-			}
 		}
 		$a->save_timestamp($stamp1, "network");
 
-		return true;
+		return self::$connected;
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index fba16263ab..a76057101a 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -51,9 +51,13 @@ if (!$install) {
 require_once "include/dba.php";
 
 if (!$install) {
-	dba::connect($db_host, $db_user, $db_pass, $db_data, $install);
+	$result = dba::connect($db_host, $db_user, $db_pass, $db_data);
 	unset($db_host, $db_user, $db_pass, $db_data);
 
+	if (!$result) {
+		System::unavailable();
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Load configs from db. Overwrite configs from .htconfig.php
 	 */