diff --git a/SAS/TMSS/test/test_utils.py b/SAS/TMSS/test/test_utils.py
index bc42fc9966675b0569c0716317d18c99f604813b..8191b2186065976eebf208065557d4e3786ba2c7 100644
--- a/SAS/TMSS/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/SAS/TMSS/test/test_utils.py
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ class TMSSDjangoServerInstance():
 
         # wait for server to be up and running....
         # or exit via TimeoutError
-        self.check_running_server(timeout=10)
+        self.check_running_server(timeout=30)
 
     def stop(self):
         '''
@@ -226,31 +226,29 @@ class TMSSDjangoServerInstance():
 
     def check_running_server(self, timeout: float = 10) -> bool:
         '''Check the running django server for a valid response'''
-        try:
-            import requests, urllib3
-            from _datetime import datetime, timedelta
-            start = datetime.utcnow()
-            while True:
-                try:
-                    response = requests.get(self.url, auth=(self.ldap_dbcreds.user, self.ldap_dbcreds.password), timeout=max(1, timeout/10))
-
-                    if response.status_code in [200, 401, 403]:
-                        logger.info("TMSS Django server is up and running at %s with database: %s and LDAP: %s",
-                                    self.url, self.database_dbcreds, self.ldap_dbcreds)
-
-                        if response.status_code in [401, 403]:
-                            logger.warning("TMSS Django server at %s could not autenticate with LDAP creds: %s", self.url, self.ldap_dbcreds)
-
-                        # TODO: logout, otherwise django remembers our login session.
-                        return True
-                except Exception as e:
-                    time.sleep(0.25)
-
-                if datetime.utcnow() - start > timedelta(seconds=timeout):
-                    raise TimeoutError("Could not get a valid response from the django server at %s" % self.url)
-        except Exception as e:
-            logger.error(e)
-            return False
+        import requests
+        from _datetime import datetime, timedelta
+        start = datetime.utcnow()
+        while True:
+            try:
+                logger.info("Checking if TMSS Django server is up and running at %s with database: %s and LDAP: %s ....",
+                            self.url, self.database_dbcreds, self.ldap_dbcreds)
+                response = requests.get(self.url, auth=(self.ldap_dbcreds.user, self.ldap_dbcreds.password), timeout=max(1, timeout/10))
+
+                if response.status_code in [200, 401, 403]:
+                    logger.info("TMSS Django server is up and running at %s with database: %s and LDAP: %s",
+                                self.url, self.database_dbcreds, self.ldap_dbcreds)
+
+                    if response.status_code in [401, 403]:
+                        logger.warning("TMSS Django server at %s could not autenticate with LDAP creds: %s", self.url, self.ldap_dbcreds)
+
+                    # TODO: logout, otherwise django remembers our login session.
+                    return True
+            except Exception as e:
+                time.sleep(0.5)
+
+            if datetime.utcnow() - start > timedelta(seconds=timeout):
+                raise TimeoutError("Could not get a valid response from the django server at %s within %s seconds" % (self.url,timeout))
 
     def __enter__(self):
         try: