diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 9c50f2c4ea1..a4e928eef38 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -383,6 +383,9 @@ Release 2.0.3-alpha - Unreleased
     HADOOP-8951. RunJar to fail with user-comprehensible error 
     message if jar missing. (stevel via suresh)
 
+    HADOOP-8713. TestRPCCompatibility fails intermittently with JDK7
+    (Trevor Robinson via tgraves)
+
 Release 2.0.2-alpha - 2012-09-07 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/TestRPCCompatibility.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/TestRPCCompatibility.java
index 608119d184c..ed7fd05a20f 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/TestRPCCompatibility.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/TestRPCCompatibility.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.protobuf.ProtocolInfoProtos.GetProtocolSignatureRes
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.protobuf.ProtocolInfoProtos.ProtocolSignatureProto;
 import org.apache.hadoop.net.NetUtils;
 import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 /** Unit test for supporting method-name based compatible RPCs. */
@@ -114,6 +115,11 @@ public class TestRPCCompatibility {
     }
 
   }
+
+  @Before
+  public void setUp() {
+    ProtocolSignature.resetCache();
+  }
   
   @After
   public void tearDown() throws IOException {
@@ -219,7 +225,6 @@ System.out.println("echo int is NOT supported");
   
   @Test // equal version client and server
   public void testVersion2ClientVersion2Server() throws Exception {
-    ProtocolSignature.resetCache();
     // create a server with two handlers
     TestImpl2 impl = new TestImpl2();
     server = new RPC.Builder(conf).setProtocol(TestProtocol2.class)