diff --git a/ares/CHANGES b/ares/CHANGES
index e7b3b8d70aa70b1083916e9cf06b4a72326d075e..c61e319299aa41c94ba5a67d3a041178c5fd6426 100644
--- a/ares/CHANGES
+++ b/ares/CHANGES
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
   Changelog for the c-ares project
 
+* 3 Aug 2009 (Daniel Stenberg)
+- Joshua Kwan fixed the init routine to fill in the defaults for stuff that
+  fails to get inited by other means. This fixes a case of when the c-ares
+  init fails when internet access is fone.
+
 * 14 Jul 2009 (Guenter Knauf)
 - renamed generated config.h to ares_config.h to avoid any future clashes
   with config.h from other projects.
diff --git a/ares/RELEASE-NOTES b/ares/RELEASE-NOTES
index c1e23d64181c83b3721de8e91340a2c3a391ff2c..c144d1c731e0e70f762bb98ad2bfde544bd8a194 100644
--- a/ares/RELEASE-NOTES
+++ b/ares/RELEASE-NOTES
@@ -16,9 +16,10 @@ Fixed:
    ARES_EBADNAME if the name in the response failed to decode
  o only expose/export symbols starting with 'ares_'
  o fix \Device\TCP handle leaks triggered by buggy iphlpapi.dll
+ o init without internet gone no longer fails
 
 Thanks go to these friendly people for their efforts and contributions:
 
- Phil Blundell, Japheth Cleaver, Yang Tse, Gregor Jasny
+ Phil Blundell, Japheth Cleaver, Yang Tse, Gregor Jasny, Joshua Kwan
 
 Have fun!
diff --git a/ares/ares_init.c b/ares/ares_init.c
index bd29fe94f49eb9a0b514c101ac6f9aef86b32672..e04cfddb7c7c86862cdc5f36fc397c7662784990 100644
--- a/ares/ares_init.c
+++ b/ares/ares_init.c
@@ -201,12 +201,15 @@ int ares_init_options(ares_channel *channelptr, struct ares_options *options,
       DEBUGF(fprintf(stderr, "Error: init_by_resolv_conf failed: %s\n",
                      ares_strerror(status)));
   }
-  if (status == ARES_SUCCESS) {
-    status = init_by_defaults(channel);
-    if (status != ARES_SUCCESS)
-      DEBUGF(fprintf(stderr, "Error: init_by_defaults failed: %s\n",
-                     ares_strerror(status)));
-  }
+
+  /*
+   * No matter what failed or succeeded, seed defaults to provide
+   * useful behavior for things that we missed.
+   */
+  status = init_by_defaults(channel);
+  if (status != ARES_SUCCESS)
+    DEBUGF(fprintf(stderr, "Error: init_by_defaults failed: %s\n",
+                   ares_strerror(status)));
 
   /* Generate random key */