diff --git a/test/e2e/app-dir/actions/app-action.test.ts b/test/e2e/app-dir/actions/app-action.test.ts
index e557955fe0a87f..011bee4e772026 100644
--- a/test/e2e/app-dir/actions/app-action.test.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/app-dir/actions/app-action.test.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import { FileRef, nextTestSetup } from 'e2e-utils'
 import {
   assertHasRedbox,
   retry,
-  check,
   waitFor,
   getRedboxSource,
   getDistDir,
@@ -527,8 +526,14 @@ describe('app-dir action handling', () => {
 
     // navigate to server
     await browser.elementByCss('#navigate-server').click()
-    // intentionally bailing after 2 retries so we don't retry to the point where the async function resolves
-    await check(() => browser.url(), `${next.url}/server`, true, 2)
+    // intentionally bailing after 2s so we don't retry to the point where the async function resolves
+    await retry(
+      async () => {
+        expect(await browser.url()).toEqual(`${next.url}/server`)
+      },
+      2000,
+      1000
+    )
 
     browser = await next.browser('/server')
 
@@ -536,8 +541,14 @@ describe('app-dir action handling', () => {
 
     // navigate to client
     await browser.elementByCss('#navigate-client').click()
-    // intentionally bailing after 2 retries so we don't retry to the point where the async function resolves
-    await check(() => browser.url(), `${next.url}/client`, true, 2)
+    // intentionally bailing after 2s so we don't retry to the point where the async function resolves
+    await retry(
+      async () => {
+        expect(await browser.url()).toEqual(`${next.url}/client`)
+      },
+      2000,
+      1000
+    )
   })
 
   it('should not block router.back() while a server action is in flight', async () => {
@@ -549,8 +560,14 @@ describe('app-dir action handling', () => {
 
     await browser.back()
 
-    // intentionally bailing after 2 retries so we don't retry to the point where the async function resolves
-    await check(() => browser.url(), `${next.url}/`, true, 2)
+    // intentionally bailing after 2s so we don't retry to the point where the async function resolves
+    await retry(
+      async () => {
+        expect(await browser.url()).toEqual(`${next.url}/`)
+      },
+      2000,
+      1000
+    )
   })
 
   it('should trigger a refresh for a server action that also dispatches a navigation event', async () => {
diff --git a/test/e2e/getserversideprops/test/index.test.ts b/test/e2e/getserversideprops/test/index.test.ts
index 9f9593d8480675..ea7bc6fb6cc736 100644
--- a/test/e2e/getserversideprops/test/index.test.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/getserversideprops/test/index.test.ts
@@ -598,13 +598,9 @@ const runTests = (isDev = false, isDeploy = false) => {
 
   it('should load a fast refresh page', async () => {
     const browser = await webdriver(next.url, '/refresh')
-    expect(
-      await check(
-        () => browser.elementByCss('p').text(),
-        /client loaded/,
-        false
-      )
-    ).toBe(true)
+    await retry(async () => {
+      expect(await browser.elementByCss('p').text()).toMatch(/client loaded/)
+    })
   })
 
   it('should provide correct query value for dynamic page', async () => {
diff --git a/test/lib/next-test-utils.ts b/test/lib/next-test-utils.ts
index 60faf0f8228c5f..0bdf1fc7836876 100644
--- a/test/lib/next-test-utils.ts
+++ b/test/lib/next-test-utils.ts
@@ -697,25 +697,18 @@ export async function startCleanStaticServer(dir: string) {
 /**
  * Check for content in 1 second intervals timing out after 30 seconds.
  * @deprecated use retry + expect instead
- * @param {() => Promise<unknown> | unknown} contentFn
- * @param {RegExp | string | number} regex
- * @param {boolean} hardError
- * @param {number} maxRetries
- * @returns {Promise<boolean>}
  */
 export async function check(
-  contentFn: () => any | Promise<any>,
-  regex: any,
-  hardError = true,
-  maxRetries = 30
-) {
-  let content
-  let lastErr
+  contentFn: () => unknown | Promise<unknown>,
+  regex: any
+): Promise<boolean> {
+  let content: unknown
+  let lastErr: unknown
 
-  for (let tries = 0; tries < maxRetries; tries++) {
+  for (let tries = 0; tries < 30; tries++) {
     try {
       content = await contentFn()
-      if (typeof regex !== typeof /regex/) {
+      if (typeof regex !== 'object') {
         if (regex === content) {
           return true
         }
@@ -730,11 +723,7 @@ export async function check(
     }
   }
   console.error('TIMED OUT CHECK: ', { regex, content, lastErr })
-
-  if (hardError) {
-    throw new Error('TIMED OUT: ' + regex + '\n\n' + content + '\n\n' + lastErr)
-  }
-  return false
+  throw new Error('TIMED OUT: ' + regex + '\n\n' + content + '\n\n' + lastErr)
 }
 
 export class File {