diff --git a/src/mad/Mad.cc b/src/mad/Mad.cc
index 5761e379b1..d244400530 100644
--- a/src/mad/Mad.cc
+++ b/src/mad/Mad.cc
@@ -34,9 +34,8 @@
 
 Mad::~Mad()
 {
-    char    buf[]="FINALIZE\n";
-    int     status;
-    pid_t   rp;
+    char buf[]   = "FINALIZE\n";
+    bool success = false;
 
     if ( pid==-1)
     {
@@ -49,13 +48,23 @@ Mad::~Mad()
     close(mad_nebula_pipe);
     close(nebula_mad_pipe);
 
-    rp = waitpid(pid, &status, WNOHANG);
-
-    if ( rp == 0 )
+    for (int i=0; i < 2; ++i)
     {
+        int status;
+
+        if ( waitpid(pid, &status, WNOHANG) != 0 )
+        {
+            success = true;
+            break;
+        }
+
         sleep(1);
-        waitpid(pid, &status, WNOHANG);
     }
+
+    if (!success)
+    {
+        kill(pid, SIGKILL);
+    };
 }
 
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
diff --git a/src/mad/ruby/OpenNebulaDriver.rb b/src/mad/ruby/OpenNebulaDriver.rb
index 9a860f6614..982b96619a 100644
--- a/src/mad/ruby/OpenNebulaDriver.rb
+++ b/src/mad/ruby/OpenNebulaDriver.rb
@@ -140,9 +140,8 @@ class OpenNebulaDriver < ActionManager
     # Start the driver. Reads from STDIN and executes methods associated with
     # the messages
     def start_driver
-        loop_thread = Thread.new { loop }
+        Thread.new { loop }
         start_listener
-        loop_thread.kill
     end
 
     # This function parses a string with this form:
@@ -187,7 +186,7 @@ class OpenNebulaDriver < ActionManager
 
     def loop
         Kernel.loop do
-            exit(-1) if STDIN.eof?
+            exit!(-1) if STDIN.eof?
 
             str = STDIN.gets
             next unless str