diff --git a/src/mongo/s/client.cpp b/src/mongo/s/client.cpp
index 91b2e1a178c51..5aae8df9d8967 100644
--- a/src/mongo/s/client.cpp
+++ b/src/mongo/s/client.cpp
@@ -230,11 +230,12 @@ namespace mongo {
         for ( set<string>::iterator i = shards->begin(); i != shards->end(); i++ ) {
             string theShard = *i;
             bbb.append( theShard );
-            ShardConnection conn( theShard , "" );
+            boost::scoped_ptr<ShardConnection> conn;
             BSONObj res;
             bool ok = false;
             try {
-                ok = conn->runCommand( "admin" , options , res );
+                conn.reset( new ShardConnection( theShard , "" ) ); // constructor can throw if shard is down
+                ok = (*conn)->runCommand( "admin" , options , res );
                 shardRawGLE.append( theShard , res );
             }
             catch( std::exception &e ){
@@ -243,7 +244,7 @@ namespace mongo {
         	    // responses.
                 
         	    warning() << "could not get last error from a shard " << theShard << causedBy( e ) << endl;
-                conn.done();
+                conn->done();
                 
                 return false;
             }
@@ -251,7 +252,7 @@ namespace mongo {
             _addWriteBack( writebacks, res );
             
             string temp = DBClientWithCommands::getLastErrorString( res );
-            if ( conn->type() != ConnectionString::SYNC && ( ok == false || temp.size() ) ) {
+            if ( (*conn)->type() != ConnectionString::SYNC && ( ok == false || temp.size() ) ) {
                 errors.push_back( temp );
                 errorObjects.push_back( res );
             }
@@ -264,7 +265,7 @@ namespace mongo {
                     updatedExistingStat = -1;
             }
 
-            conn.done();
+            conn->done();
         }
 
         bbb.done();