diff --git a/src/slurmctld/node_mgr.c b/src/slurmctld/node_mgr.c
index 8739a83c040ad61648a8e7c61a02d23e425d7e20..7873291d5f44bcd8bfd1ae61f1a3faa06ee0a053 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/node_mgr.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/node_mgr.c
@@ -1238,6 +1238,7 @@ void ping_nodes (void)
 			continue;
 
 		if ((node_record_table_ptr[i].last_response != (time_t)0) &&
+		    (slurmctld_conf.slurmd_timeout != 0) &&
 		    (age >= slurmctld_conf.slurmd_timeout) &&
 		    (base_state != NODE_STATE_DOWN)) {
 			error ("Node %s not responding, setting DOWN",