diff --git a/nsock/tests/connect.c b/nsock/tests/connect.c
index 78ccfa3cd..e4027bf38 100644
--- a/nsock/tests/connect.c
+++ b/nsock/tests/connect.c
@@ -86,13 +86,15 @@ static int connect_tcp_failure(void *tdata) {
 
   memset(&peer, 0, sizeof(peer));
   peer.sin_family = AF_INET;
-  inet_aton("0.0.0.1", &peer.sin_addr);   /* IANA reserved */
+  inet_aton("127.0.0.1", &peer.sin_addr);
 
+  /* pass in addrlen == 0 to force connect(2) to fail */
   nsock_connect_tcp(ctd->nsp, ctd->nsi, connect_handler, 4000, NULL,
-                    (struct sockaddr *)&peer, sizeof(peer), PORT_TCP);
+                    (struct sockaddr *)&peer, 0, PORT_TCP);
 
   nsock_loop(ctd->nsp, 4000);
-  return ctd->connect_result == -EINVAL ? 0 : ctd->connect_result;
+  AssertEqual(ctd->connect_result, EINVAL);
+  return 0;
 }