diff --git a/api/fedora_utils.inc b/api/fedora_utils.inc
index 97612595..f286806c 100644
--- a/api/fedora_utils.inc
+++ b/api/fedora_utils.inc
@@ -66,11 +66,8 @@ function do_curl($url, $return_to_variable = 1, $number_of_post_vars = 0, $post
 }
 
 function fedora_available() {
-  
-  $ret = do_curl(variable_get('fedora_soap_url', 'http://localhost:8080/fedora/services/management?wsdl'), 1);
-  // A bit of a hack but the SOAP parser will cause a fatal error if you give it the wrong URL.
-  // PHP SOAP is now an installation requirement so this check is all we need to do.
-  return (strpos($ret, 'wsdl:definitions') != FALSE);
+  $response = drupal_http_request(variable_get('fedora_base_url', 'http://localhost:8080/fedora').'/describe');
+  return ($response->code == 200);
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/fedora_repository.module b/fedora_repository.module
index 818fc4ac..0df5b660 100644
--- a/fedora_repository.module
+++ b/fedora_repository.module
@@ -1245,10 +1245,10 @@ function fedora_repository_demo_objects_form() {
   );
 
   foreach (array(
-'islandora:collectionCModel' => 'Islandora default content models',
- 'islandora:top' => 'Islandora top-level collection',
- 'islandora:demos' => 'Islandora demos collection',
- 'islandora:largeimages' => 'Sample large image content model (requires <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/djatoka/">Djatoka</a> and <a href="http://www.kakadusoftware.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=22">Kakadu</a>.)',
+    'islandora:collectionCModel' => 'Islandora default content models',
+    'islandora:top' => 'Islandora top-level collection',
+    'islandora:demos' => 'Islandora demos collection',
+    'islandora:largeimages' => 'Sample large image content model (requires <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/djatoka/">Djatoka</a> and <a href="http://www.kakadusoftware.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=22">Kakadu</a>.)',
   )
   as $available_demo => $available_demo_desc) {
     try {