diff --git a/orte/config/orte_check_alps.m4 b/orte/config/orte_check_alps.m4
index 17c80c4c25..22d67eec56 100644
--- a/orte/config/orte_check_alps.m4
+++ b/orte/config/orte_check_alps.m4
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ AC_DEFUN([ORTE_CHECK_ALPS],[
 	# save the CPPFLAGS so we can check for alps/apInfo.h without adding $with_alps/include to the global path
 	orte_check_alps_$1_save_CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS"
 
-	if test "$with_alps" != "no" ; then
+	if test "$with_alps" == "no" -o -z "$with_alps" ; then
+           orte_check_alps_happy="no"
+        else
            # Only need to do these tests once (this macro is invoked
            # from multiple different components' configure.m4 scripts
 
@@ -85,8 +87,6 @@ AC_DEFUN([ORTE_CHECK_ALPS],[
                           AC_MSG_ERROR([Cannot continue])])
                fi
            fi
-        else
-            orte_check_alps_happy="no"
 	fi
     fi