diff --git a/akka-core/src/main/scala/actor/Actor.scala b/akka-core/src/main/scala/actor/Actor.scala
index 7b60609f51..bbffc93320 100644
--- a/akka-core/src/main/scala/actor/Actor.scala
+++ b/akka-core/src/main/scala/actor/Actor.scala
@@ -464,7 +464,8 @@ trait Actor extends Logging {
   }
 
   private[akka] def checkReceiveTimeout = {
-    if (self.isDefinedAt(ReceiveTimeout)) {
+    //if ((self.hotswap getOrElse receive).isDefinedAt(ReceiveTimeout)) { // FIXME use when 'self' is safe to use, throws NPE sometimes
+    if ((receive ne null) && receive.isDefinedAt(ReceiveTimeout)) {
       log.debug("Scheduling timeout for Actor [" + toString + "]")
       timeoutActor = Some(Scheduler.scheduleOnce(self, ReceiveTimeout, self.receiveTimeout, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS))
     }
diff --git a/akka-core/src/test/scala/ReceiveTimeoutSpec.scala b/akka-core/src/test/scala/ReceiveTimeoutSpec.scala
index 60c5df934f..6aeb8e09de 100644
--- a/akka-core/src/test/scala/ReceiveTimeoutSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-core/src/test/scala/ReceiveTimeoutSpec.scala
@@ -63,6 +63,6 @@ class ReceiveTimeoutSpec extends JUnitSuite {
     timeoutActor ! Tick
 
     // timeout already after 500 ms, so 1 second wait should be enough
-    assert(timeoutLatch.tryAwait(1, TimeUnit.SECONDS) == false)
+    assert(timeoutLatch.tryAwait(3, TimeUnit.SECONDS) == false)
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file