diff --git a/IPython/html/tests/launchnotebook.py b/IPython/html/tests/launchnotebook.py
index d9ef86f..9171934 100644
--- a/IPython/html/tests/launchnotebook.py
+++ b/IPython/html/tests/launchnotebook.py
@@ -39,15 +39,11 @@ class NotebookTestBase(TestCase):
@classmethod
def wait_until_dead(cls):
- """Wait for the server to stop getting requests after shutdown"""
- url = 'http://localhost:%i/api/notebooks' % cls.port
+ """Wait for the server process to terminate after shutdown"""
for _ in range(300):
- try:
- requests.get(url)
- except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError:
- break
- else:
- time.sleep(.1)
+ if cls.notebook.poll() is not None:
+ return
+ time.sleep(.1)
raise TimeoutError("Undead notebook server")