diff --git a/boottest.py b/boottest.py
index 87d122c..a1bb2cf 100644
--- a/boottest.py
+++ b/boottest.py
@@ -92,21 +92,21 @@ class TouchManifest(object):
             try:
                 response = urllib.urlopen(url)
                 if response.code == 200:
+                    # Only [re]create the manifest file if one was successfully
+                    # downloaded. This allows for an existing image to be used
+                    # if the download fails.
+                    path_dir = os.path.dirname(self.path)
+                    if not os.path.exists(path_dir):
+                        os.makedirs(path_dir)
+                    with open(self.path, 'w') as fp:
+                        fp.write(response.read())
+                    success = True
                     break
+
             except IOError as e:
                 print("W: [%s] - error connecting to %s: %s" % (
                         time.asctime(), self.path, e))
 
-        # Only [re]create the manifest file if one was successfully downloaded
-        # this allows for an existing image to be used if the download fails.
-        if response.code == 200:
-            path_dir = os.path.dirname(self.path)
-            if not os.path.exists(path_dir):
-                os.makedirs(path_dir)
-            with open(self.path, 'w') as fp:
-                fp.write(response.read())
-            success = True
-
         return success
 
     def _load(self):
diff --git a/tests/test_boottest.py b/tests/test_boottest.py
index d001e96..9e4014a 100644
--- a/tests/test_boottest.py
+++ b/tests/test_boottest.py
@@ -49,7 +49,10 @@ class TestTouchManifest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.addCleanup(shutil.rmtree, self.path)
         _p = mock.patch('urllib.urlopen')
         self.mocked_urlopen = _p.start()
-        self.mocked_urlopen.side_effect = [FakeResponse(code=404),]
+        self.mocked_urlopen.side_effect = [
+            FakeResponse(code=404),
+            FakeResponse(code=404),
+        ]
         self.addCleanup(_p.stop)
         self.fetch_retries_orig = boottest.FETCH_RETRIES
         def restore_fetch_retries():
@@ -90,7 +93,10 @@ class TestTouchManifest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertIn('foo', manifest)
 
     def test_fetch_exception(self):
-        self.mocked_urlopen.side_effect = [IOError("connection refused")]
+        self.mocked_urlopen.side_effect = [
+            IOError("connection refused"),
+            IOError("connection refused"),
+        ]
         manifest = boottest.TouchManifest('not-real', 'not-real')
         self.assertEqual(0, len(manifest._manifest))