diff --git a/jetty-io/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/io/UncheckedPrintWriter.java b/jetty-io/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/io/UncheckedPrintWriter.java
index f114417e800..cfb05447a29 100644
--- a/jetty-io/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/io/UncheckedPrintWriter.java
+++ b/jetty-io/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/io/UncheckedPrintWriter.java
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ public class UncheckedPrintWriter extends PrintWriter
     private static final Logger LOG = Log.getLogger(UncheckedPrintWriter.class);
 
     private boolean _autoFlush = false;
-    private boolean _throwUnchecked=true;
+    private IOException _ioException;
+    private boolean _isClosed = false;
 
     /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
     /**
@@ -102,38 +103,45 @@ public class UncheckedPrintWriter extends PrintWriter
         this(new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(out)),autoFlush);
     }
     
+    
     /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
-    private void setError(Throwable th)
+    public boolean checkError()
     {
-        setError();
-        if (_throwUnchecked)
-            throw new RuntimeIOException(th);
-        LOG.debug(th);
-    }
-
-    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
-    /** Are unchecked exceptions thrown.
-     * @return True if {@link RuntimeIOException}s are thrown
-     */
-    public boolean isUncheckedPrintWriter()
-    {
-        return _throwUnchecked;
-    }
-
-    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
-    /** Set if unchecked exceptions are thrown
-     * @param uncheckedPrintWriter True if {@link RuntimeIOException}s are to be thrown
-     */
-    public void setUncheckedPrintWriter(boolean uncheckedPrintWriter)
-    {
-        _throwUnchecked = uncheckedPrintWriter;
+        return _ioException!=null || super.checkError();
     }
     
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    private void setError(Throwable th)
+    {
+      
+        super.setError();
+
+        if (th instanceof IOException)
+            _ioException=(IOException)th;
+        else
+        {
+            _ioException=new IOException(String.valueOf(th));
+            _ioException.initCause(th);
+        }
+
+        LOG.debug(th);
+    }
+
+
+    @Override
+    protected void setError()
+    {
+        setError(new IOException());
+    }
+
     /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
     /** Check to make sure that the stream has not been closed */
     private void isOpen() throws IOException
-    {
-        if (super.out == null)
+    {       
+        if (_ioException!=null)
+            throw new RuntimeIOException(_ioException); 
+        
+        if (_isClosed)
             throw new IOException("Stream closed");
     }
 
@@ -170,6 +178,7 @@ public class UncheckedPrintWriter extends PrintWriter
             synchronized (lock)
             {
                 out.close();
+                _isClosed = true;
             }
         }
         catch (IOException ex)
@@ -248,7 +257,7 @@ public class UncheckedPrintWriter extends PrintWriter
      */
     @Override
     public void write(char buf[])
-    {
+    { 
         this.write(buf,0,buf.length);
     }
 
diff --git a/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/AbstractHttpConnection.java b/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/AbstractHttpConnection.java
index b589d22278b..6869768901f 100644
--- a/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/AbstractHttpConnection.java
+++ b/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/AbstractHttpConnection.java
@@ -356,7 +356,27 @@ public abstract class AbstractHttpConnection  extends AbstractConnection
         if (_writer==null)
         {
             _writer=new OutputWriter();
-            _printWriter=new UncheckedPrintWriter(_writer);
+            if (_server.isUncheckedPrintWriter())
+                _printWriter=new UncheckedPrintWriter(_writer);
+            else
+                _printWriter = new PrintWriter(_writer)
+                {
+                    public void close()
+                    {
+                        synchronized (lock)
+                        {
+                            try
+                            {
+                                out.close();
+                            }
+                            catch (IOException e)
+                            {
+                                setError();
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                };
+
         }
         _writer.setCharacterEncoding(encoding);
         return _printWriter;
diff --git a/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/Server.java b/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/Server.java
index e62fad56c79..98221fc2a65 100644
--- a/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/Server.java
+++ b/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/Server.java
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ public class Server extends HandlerWrapper implements Attributes
     private int _maxCookieVersion=1;
     private boolean _dumpAfterStart=false;
     private boolean _dumpBeforeStop=false;
+    private boolean _uncheckedPrintWriter=false;
     
 
     /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
@@ -614,6 +615,20 @@ public class Server extends HandlerWrapper implements Attributes
         dumpThis(out);
         dump(out,indent,TypeUtil.asList(getHandlers()),getBeans(),TypeUtil.asList(_connectors));    
     }
+
+
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    public boolean isUncheckedPrintWriter()
+    {
+        return _uncheckedPrintWriter;
+    }
+
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    public void setUncheckedPrintWriter(boolean unchecked)
+    {
+        _uncheckedPrintWriter=unchecked;
+    }
+
     
     /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
     /* A handler that can be gracefully shutdown.
diff --git a/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpServerTestBase.java b/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpServerTestBase.java
index 0e6d953c275..661fcde9a65 100644
--- a/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpServerTestBase.java
+++ b/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpServerTestBase.java
@@ -741,6 +741,7 @@ public abstract class HttpServerTestBase extends HttpServerTestFixture
             IO.copy(is,bout);
             byte[] b=bout.toByteArray();
 
+            System.err.println("OUTPUT: "+new String(b));
             int i=0;
             while (b[i]!='Z')
                 i++;
diff --git a/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ContextHandlerTest.java b/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ContextHandlerTest.java
index 6b1dcfa28cb..5612d35c9f3 100644
--- a/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ContextHandlerTest.java
+++ b/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ContextHandlerTest.java
@@ -337,6 +337,7 @@ public class ContextHandlerTest
     public void testUncheckedPrintWriter() throws Exception
     {
         Server server = new Server();
+        server.setUncheckedPrintWriter(true);
         LocalConnector connector = new LocalConnector();
         server.setConnectors(new Connector[] { connector });
         ContextHandler context = new ContextHandler("/");
@@ -422,7 +423,10 @@ public class ContextHandlerTest
                 writer.write("Goodbye cruel world\n");
                 writer.close();
                 response.flushBuffer();
-                writer.write("speaking from the dead");
+                //writer.write("speaking from the dead");
+                writer.write("give the printwriter a chance"); //should create an error
+                if (writer.checkError())
+                    writer.write("didn't take the chance, will throw now"); //write after an error
             }
             catch(Throwable th)
             {