diff --git a/htdocs/init.php b/htdocs/init.php
index 338572f2c3297014907199425bec7e26587e89b5..85c602d2806bbadb7a265d79db9e5d68101fc0b8 100644
--- a/htdocs/init.php
+++ b/htdocs/init.php
@@ -112,6 +112,20 @@ try {
         $dbconnected = $db->Connect($CFG->dbhost,$CFG->dbuser,$CFG->dbpass,$CFG->dbname);
     }
 
+    // Now we have a connection, verify the server is a new enough version
+    $dbversion = $db->ServerInfo();
+    if (is_postgres()) {
+        $okversion = '8.1';
+        $dbfriendlyname = 'PostgreSQL';
+    }
+    else if (is_mysql()) {
+        $okversion = '5.0.25';
+        $dbfriendlyname = 'MySQL';
+    }
+    if ($dbversion['version'] < $okversion) {
+        throw new ConfigSanityException(get_string('dbversioncheckfailed', 'error', $dbfriendlyname, $dbversion['version'], $okversion));
+    }
+
     $db->SetFetchMode(ADODB_FETCH_ASSOC);
     configure_dbconnection();
     ensure_internal_plugins_exist();
@@ -119,6 +133,9 @@ try {
     ob_end_clean();
 }
 catch (Exception $e) {
+    if ($e instanceof ConfigSanityException) {
+        throw $e;
+    }
     $errormessage = ob_get_contents();
     if (!$errormessage) {
         $errormessage = $e->getMessage();
diff --git a/htdocs/lang/en.utf8/error.php b/htdocs/lang/en.utf8/error.php
index ffa1ad7ca13d0600c75dd68faa7e4312f1e32a73..f022464a36d98914a5c304009b751d5ca78bdc6c 100644
--- a/htdocs/lang/en.utf8/error.php
+++ b/htdocs/lang/en.utf8/error.php
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ $string['dbconnfailed'] = 'Mahara could not connect to the application database.
 
 The error received was:
 ';
+$string['dbversioncheckfailed'] = 'Your database server version is not new enough to successfully run Mahara. Your server is %s %s, but Mahara requires at least version %s.';
 
 // general exception error messages
 $string['blocktypenametaken'] = "Block type %s is already taken by another plugin (%s)";
diff --git a/htdocs/lib/adodb/drivers/adodb-postgres64.inc.php b/htdocs/lib/adodb/drivers/adodb-postgres64.inc.php
index 9ca6e772c77a854fd8081034d50b3752f433e208..c5b1950af4b97b075c3f0b9077c4c1deb1f86d55 100644
--- a/htdocs/lib/adodb/drivers/adodb-postgres64.inc.php
+++ b/htdocs/lib/adodb/drivers/adodb-postgres64.inc.php
@@ -123,11 +123,8 @@ WHERE relkind in ('r','v') AND (c.relname='%s' or c.relname = lower('%s'))
 	
 	function ServerInfo()
 	{
-		if (isset($this->version)) return $this->version;
-		
 		$arr['description'] = $this->GetOne("select version()");
 		$arr['version'] = ADOConnection::_findvers($arr['description']);
-		$this->version = $arr;
 		return $arr;
 	}