--- a/t/tlib/Test/RedisRunner.pm
+++ b/t/tlib/Test/RedisRunner.pm
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ use warnings;
 our $VERSION = '0.1404';
 
 use File::Temp;
-use POSIX qw( SIGTERM WNOHANG );
+use POSIX qw( SIGTERM SIGKILL WNOHANG );
 use Time::HiRes qw( sleep );
 use Carp;
 use Errno ();
@@ -94,13 +94,13 @@ sub start {
 
       # confirmed this message is included from v1.3.6 (older version in
       # git repo) to current HEAD (2012-07-30)
-      if ( $log =~ /The server is now ready to accept connections/ ) {
+      if ( $log =~ /[rR]eady to accept connections/ ) {
         $ready = 1;
         last;
       }
     }
 
-    sleep $elapsed += 0.1;
+    sleep($elapsed += 0.1);
   }
 
   unless ( $ready ) {
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ sub start {
       undef $self->{pid};
       kill( SIGTERM, $pid );
       while ( waitpid( $pid, WNOHANG ) >= 0 ) {
+        kill (SIGKILL, $pid);
       }
     }
 
@@ -159,6 +160,7 @@ sub stop {
 
   kill( $sig, $self->{pid} );
   while ( waitpid( $self->{pid}, WNOHANG ) >= 0 ) {
+    kill( SIGKILL, $self->{pid});
   }
 
   undef $self->{pid};
@@ -175,7 +177,7 @@ sub wait_exit {
   my $pid = $self->{pid};
   do {
     $kid = waitpid( $pid, WNOHANG );
-    sleep 0.1;
+    sleep(0.1);
   } while $kid >= 0;
 
   undef $self->{pid};
