diff --git a/appstore.js b/appstore.js
index a7f9e72..7570e47 100644
--- a/appstore.js
+++ b/appstore.js
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ function AppStore(origin) {
 
 AppStore.prototype.getAccessToken = function (user) {
     var res = request.get(this._origin + '/api/v1/login').auth(user.email, user.password).end();
-    common.verifyResponse(res, 'Could not login as user:' + user.email + ' password:' + user.password);
+    common.verifyResponse2(res, 'Could not login as user:' + user.email + ' password:' + user.password);
     return res.body.accessToken;
 };
 
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ AppStore.prototype.getCloudrons = function () {
 AppStore.prototype.getCloudron = function (boxId) {
     var res = request.get(this._origin + '/api/v1/cloudrons/' + boxId).query({ accessToken: this._credentials.accessToken, page: 1, per_page: 50 }).end();
     if (res.statusCode === 404) return null;
-    common.verifyResponse(res, 'Could not query cloudron status');
+    common.verifyResponse2(res, 'Could not query cloudron status');
     return res.body.box;
 };
 
@@ -59,11 +59,11 @@ AppStore.prototype.waitForIP = function (boxId) {
 
     var res;
 
-    while (true) {
+    for (var i = 0; i < 40; i++) {
         sleep(10);
         process.stdout.write('.');
         res = request.get(this._origin + '/api/v1/cloudrons/' + boxId).query({ accessToken: this._credentials.accessToken }).end();
-        common.verifyResponse(res, 'Could not query cloudron status');
+        common.verifyResponse2(res, 'Could not query cloudron status');
 
         if (res.body.box.ip) {
             debug();
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ AppStore.prototype.waitForIP = function (boxId) {
         }
     }
 
+    if (!res.body || !res.body.box.ip) throw new Error('waitForIP timeout');
+
     debug('Box IP:%s'.green, res.body.box.ip);
 
     return res.body.box.ip;
@@ -82,11 +84,11 @@ AppStore.prototype.waitForCloudron = function (boxId) {
 
     var boxInfo = null, res;
 
-    while (true) {
+    for (var i = 0; i < 60; i++) {
         sleep(10);
         process.stdout.write('.');
         res = request.get(this._origin + '/api/v1/cloudrons/' + boxId).query({ accessToken: this._credentials.accessToken }).end();
-        common.verifyResponse(res, 'Could not query cloudron status');
+        common.verifyResponse2(res, 'Could not query cloudron status');
 
         boxInfo = res.body.box;
         if (boxInfo.status === 'ready') {
@@ -95,24 +97,29 @@ AppStore.prototype.waitForCloudron = function (boxId) {
         }
     }
 
+    if (!boxInfo) throw new Error('waitForCloudron: could not get cloudron status');
+
     debug('Box created in %s minutes with IP:%s'.green, (new Date() - creationTime) / 60000, res.body.box.ip);
 
     // even if the cloudron sent heartbeat to appstore, doesn't mean we can contact the cloudron thanks to DO networking insanity
     process.stdout.write('Waiting for Cloudron to be reachable.');
-    while (true) {
+    for (i = 0; i < 60; i++) {
         sleep(10);
         process.stdout.write('.');
         res = request.get('https://' + boxInfo.ip).end();
         if (!res.error) break;
         debug(res.error);
     }
+
+    if (res.error) throw new Error('waitForCloudron: could not reach cloudron');
+
     return boxInfo;
 };
 
 AppStore.prototype.createCloudron = function (box) {
     var accessToken = this._credentials.accessToken;
     var res = request.post(this._origin + '/api/v1/cloudrons').send(box).query({ accessToken: accessToken }).end();
-    common.verifyResponse(res, 'Could not create cloudron %j', box);
+    common.verifyResponse2(res, 'Could not create cloudron %j', box);
 
     debug('Cloudron %s created'.green, box.domain);
     return res.body.box;
@@ -129,23 +136,25 @@ AppStore.prototype.deleteCloudron = function (box) {
 
     process.stdout.write('Waiting for Cloudron to disappear.');
     for (var i = 0; i < 40; i++)  {
-        if (this.getCloudron(box.id) === null) break;
+        if (this.getCloudron(box.id) === null) return;
 
         sleep(10);
 
         process.stdout.write('.');
     }
+
+    throw new Error('deleteCloudron: timedout waiting for cloudron to disappear');
 };
 
 AppStore.prototype.getManifest = function (appId, version) {
     var res = request.get(this._origin + '/api/v1/apps/' + appId + '/versions/' + version).end();
-    common.verifyResponse(res, 'Could not get get app manifest');
+    common.verifyResponse2(res, 'Could not get get app manifest');
     return res.body.manifest;
 };
 
 AppStore.prototype.restore = function (boxId, backupId) {
     var res = request.post(this._origin + '/api/v1/cloudrons/' + boxId + '/restore/' + backupId).query({ accessToken: this._credentials.accessToken }).end();
-    common.verifyResponse(res, 'Could not restore cloudron');
+    common.verifyResponse2(res, 'Could not restore cloudron');
 };
 
 AppStore.prototype.setupBilling = function (user, callback) {
@@ -178,7 +187,7 @@ AppStore.prototype.setupBilling = function (user, callback) {
         };
 
         var res = request.put(that._origin + '/api/v1/users/' + user.id).send(data).query({ accessToken: that._credentials.accessToken }).end();
-        common.verifyResponse(res, 'Could not setup billing');
+        common.verifyResponse2(res, 'Could not setup billing');
 
         callback(null);
     });
diff --git a/cloudron.js b/cloudron.js
index ea68d41..4f651fc 100644
--- a/cloudron.js
+++ b/cloudron.js
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ Cloudron.prototype.waitForBox = function () {
         process.stdout.write('.');
     }
 
-    assert(false, 'waitForBox failed');
+    throw new Error('waitForBox failed');
 };
 
 Cloudron.prototype.setCredentials = function (password, accessToken) {
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ Cloudron.prototype.update = function (toVersion) {
 
     console.log('Update started'.green);
     process.stdout.write('Waiting for update.');
-    for (var i = 0; i < 40; i++) {
+    for (i = 0; i < 40; i++) {
         sleep(10);
         res = request.get(this._origin + '/api/v1/cloudron/status').end();
         if (res.statusCode === 200 && res.body.version === toVersion) {
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ Cloudron.prototype.backup = function () {
     res = request.post(this._origin + '/api/v1/backups').query({ access_token: this._credentials.accessToken }).end();
     common.verifyResponse2(res, 'Could not schedule backup');
 
-    while (true) {
+    for (var i = 0; i < 40; i++) {
         sleep(10); // backup sometimes takes a while to start
         res = request.get(this._origin + '/api/v1/cloudron/progress').end();
         if (res.body.backup === null || res.body.backup.percent === 100) {
@@ -257,6 +257,8 @@ Cloudron.prototype.backup = function () {
         debug('Backing up: %s %s', res.body.backup.percent, res.body.backup.message);
     }
 
+    if (i === 40) throw new Error('backup: timedout');
+
     res = request.get(this._origin + '/api/v1/backups').query({ access_token: this._credentials.accessToken }).end();
     common.verifyResponse2(res, 'Could not get backups');
     var latestBackups = res.body.backups;
diff --git a/common.js b/common.js
index 9bac33e..9272f91 100644
--- a/common.js
+++ b/common.js
@@ -49,15 +49,6 @@ function verifyResponse2(res, args) {
     }
 }
 
-function verifyResponse(res, args) {
-    if (res.statusCode < 200 || res.statusCode > 299) {
-        console.log('Response error statusCode:%s error:%s body:%j', res.statusCode, res.error, res.body);
-        var errorMessage = util.format.apply(util, Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 1));
-        debug(errorMessage.red);
-        process.exit(1);
-    }
-}
-
 function getOwner() {
     return {
         username: process.env.APPSTORE_USERNAME || gEcosystem.env.APPSTORE_USERNAME,
diff --git a/test/cloudron-update-test.js b/test/cloudron-update-test.js
index b150d46..88200c9 100644
--- a/test/cloudron-update-test.js
+++ b/test/cloudron-update-test.js
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ describe('Cloudron update testing', function () {
 
     it('can query versions', function () {
         res = request.get('https://s3.amazonaws.com/staging-cloudron-releases/versions.json').end();
-        common.verifyResponse(res);
+        common.verifyResponse2(res);
         var boxVersions = Object.keys(common.stripUnreachable(res.body)).sort(semver.rcompare);
         fromVersion = boxVersions[2]; // we released a new version in before()
         toVersion = boxVersions[1];