diff --git a/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/firefox/GeckoDriverService.java b/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/firefox/GeckoDriverService.java
index b2b929a720a2f..38d358d001c3e 100644
--- a/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/firefox/GeckoDriverService.java
+++ b/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/firefox/GeckoDriverService.java
@@ -17,10 +17,13 @@
 
 package org.openqa.selenium.firefox;
 
+import static java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit.SECONDS;
+
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 
 import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriverException;
+import org.openqa.selenium.net.PortProber;
 import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.internal.Executable;
 import org.openqa.selenium.remote.service.DriverService;
 
@@ -66,7 +69,7 @@ public static GeckoDriverService createDefaultService() {
 
   @Override
   protected void waitUntilAvailable() throws MalformedURLException {
-    return;
+    PortProber.waitForPortUp(getUrl().getPort(), 20, SECONDS);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/net/PortProber.java b/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/net/PortProber.java
index c48081f3d35b9..8a46152ef8ce0 100644
--- a/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/net/PortProber.java
+++ b/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/net/PortProber.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 import java.net.ServerSocket;
 import java.net.Socket;
 import java.net.UnknownHostException;
+import java.net.SocketTimeoutException;
 import java.util.Random;
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
@@ -156,4 +157,22 @@ public static boolean pollPort(int port, int timeout, TimeUnit unit) {
 
     return false;
   }
+
+  public static void waitForPortUp(int port, int timeout, TimeUnit unit) {
+    long end = System.currentTimeMillis() + unit.toMillis(timeout);
+    while (System.currentTimeMillis() < end) {
+      try {
+        Socket socket = new Socket();
+        socket.connect(new InetSocketAddress("localhost", port), 1000);
+        socket.close();
+        return;
+      } catch (ConnectException e) {
+        // Ignore this
+      } catch (SocketTimeoutException e) {
+        // Ignore this
+      } catch (IOException e) {
+        throw new RuntimeException(e);
+      }
+    }
+  }
 }