diff --git a/lib/multi.c b/lib/multi.c
index e4b336964..12c6a344b 100644
--- a/lib/multi.c
+++ b/lib/multi.c
@@ -818,9 +818,10 @@ CURLMcode curl_multi_wait(CURLM *multi_handle,
     return CURLM_BAD_HANDLE;
 
   /* If the internally desired timeout is actually shorter than requested from
-     the outside, then use the shorter time! */
+     the outside, then use the shorter time! But only if the internal timer
+     is actually larger than 0! */
   (void)multi_timeout(multi, &timeout_internal);
-  if(timeout_internal < (long)timeout_ms)
+  if((timeout_internal > 0) && (timeout_internal < (long)timeout_ms))
     timeout_ms = (int)timeout_internal;
 
   /* Count up how many fds we have from the multi handle */