diff --git a/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java b/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java
index 98bb147d07..67062e0cab 100755
--- a/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java
+++ b/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ public abstract class BaseComputeServiceLiveTest {
          assertLocationSameOrChild(metadata.getLocation(), template.getLocation());
          checkImageIdMatchesTemplate(metadata);
          checkOsMatchesTemplate(metadata);
-         assertEquals(metadata.getState(), NodeState.RUNNING);
+         assert (metadata.getState() == NodeState.RUNNING) : metadata;
          // due to DHCP the addresses can actually change in-between runs.
          assertEquals(metadata.getPrivateAddresses().size(), node.getPrivateAddresses().size());
          assertEquals(metadata.getPublicAddresses().size(), node.getPublicAddresses().size());
diff --git a/providers/slicehost/src/main/java/org/jclouds/slicehost/handlers/ParseSlicehostErrorFromHttpResponse.java b/providers/slicehost/src/main/java/org/jclouds/slicehost/handlers/ParseSlicehostErrorFromHttpResponse.java
index 7ea35b9059..0884259b24 100644
--- a/providers/slicehost/src/main/java/org/jclouds/slicehost/handlers/ParseSlicehostErrorFromHttpResponse.java
+++ b/providers/slicehost/src/main/java/org/jclouds/slicehost/handlers/ParseSlicehostErrorFromHttpResponse.java
@@ -32,12 +32,10 @@ import javax.inject.Singleton;
 
 import org.jclouds.http.HttpCommand;
 import org.jclouds.http.HttpErrorHandler;
-import org.jclouds.http.HttpException;
 import org.jclouds.http.HttpResponse;
 import org.jclouds.http.HttpResponseException;
 import org.jclouds.http.functions.ParseSax;
 import org.jclouds.http.functions.ParseSax.Factory;
-import org.jclouds.io.Payload;
 import org.jclouds.logging.Logger;
 import org.jclouds.rest.AuthorizationException;
 import org.jclouds.rest.ResourceNotFoundException;
@@ -111,15 +109,8 @@ public class ParseSlicehostErrorFromHttpResponse implements HttpErrorHandler {
          this.errorHandlerProvider = errorHandlerProvider;
       }
 
-      String parse(Payload in) {
-         try {
-            return factory.create(errorHandlerProvider.get()).parse(in.getInput());
-         } catch (HttpException e) {
-            logger.warn(e, "error parsing error");
-            return null;
-         } finally {
-            in.release();
-         }
+      String parse(String in) {
+         return factory.create(errorHandlerProvider.get()).parse(in);
       }
 
    }
@@ -127,16 +118,10 @@ public class ParseSlicehostErrorFromHttpResponse implements HttpErrorHandler {
    String parseErrorFromContentOrNull(HttpCommand command, HttpResponse response) {
       // slicehost returns " " which is unparsable
       if (response.getPayload() != null) {
-         String contentType = response.getPayload().getContentMetadata().getContentType();
-         if (response.getPayload().getContentMetadata().getContentLength() != 1) {
-            response.getPayload().release();
-         } else if (contentType != null && contentType.indexOf("xml") != -1) {
-            return errorParser.parse(response.getPayload());
-         } else {
-            try {
-               return Strings2.toStringAndClose(response.getPayload().getInput());
-            } catch (IOException e) {
-            }
+         try {
+            String payload = Strings2.toStringAndClose(response.getPayload().getInput()).trim();
+            return payload.indexOf("xml") != -1 ? errorParser.parse(payload) : payload;
+         } catch (IOException e) {
          }
       }
       return null;