diff --git a/tests/PHPUnit/Fixture.php b/tests/PHPUnit/Fixture.php
index 5a816e971e4304bf5e58b658235b846806729b79..38ce63afef505f5c94fcb337288dec544fec04fd 100644
--- a/tests/PHPUnit/Fixture.php
+++ b/tests/PHPUnit/Fixture.php
@@ -655,7 +655,9 @@ class Fixture extends PHPUnit_Framework_Assert
     {
         $config = _parse_ini_file(PIWIK_INCLUDE_PATH . '/config/config.ini.php', true);
         $originalDbName = $config['database']['dbname'];
-        if ($this->dbName == $originalDbName) { // santity check
+        if ($this->dbName == $originalDbName
+            && $this->dbName != 'piwik_tests'
+        ) { // santity check
             throw new \Exception("Trying to drop original database $originalDbName. Something's wrong w/ the tests.");
         }
 
diff --git a/tests/PHPUnit/Integration/Core/Plugin/SettingsTest.php b/tests/PHPUnit/Integration/Core/Plugin/SettingsTest.php
index 93bb18821cd7ce33dad84bd320e5d4b5eedc5dcc..4f2df24dbbb4edb7859797e3a1cdc5259760e0a7 100644
--- a/tests/PHPUnit/Integration/Core/Plugin/SettingsTest.php
+++ b/tests/PHPUnit/Integration/Core/Plugin/SettingsTest.php
@@ -46,10 +46,9 @@ class Core_Plugin_SettingsTest extends DatabaseTestCase
     public function tearDown()
     {
         $this->setSuperUser();
-        if (!$this->settings) {
-            throw new Exception("Invalid state: \$settings is null.");
+        if ($this->settings) {
+            $this->settings->removeAllPluginSettings();
         }
-        $this->settings->removeAllPluginSettings();
 
         parent::tearDown();
     }