diff --git a/src/test/java/io/ebean/BaseTestCase.java b/src/test/java/io/ebean/BaseTestCase.java
index 81d98c73a..da3c31218 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/ebean/BaseTestCase.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/ebean/BaseTestCase.java
@@ -16,9 +16,16 @@ public class BaseTestCase {
 
   static {
     logger.debug("... preStart");
-    if (!AgentLoader.loadAgentFromClasspath("ebean-agent", "debug=1;packages=org.tests,org.avaje.test,io.ebean")) {
+    if (!AgentLoader.loadAgentFromClasspath("ebean-agent", "debug=1")) {
       logger.info("avaje-ebeanorm-agent not found in classpath - not dynamically loaded");
     }
+    try {
+      // First try, if we get the default server. If this fails, all tests will fail.
+      Ebean.getDefaultServer();
+    } catch (Throwable e) {
+      logger.error("Fatal error while getting ebean-server. Exiting...", e);
+      System.exit(1);
+    }
   }
 
   /**