diff --git a/app/web/controllers/SystemCheck.scala b/app/web/controllers/SystemCheck.scala
index 445a08892..b488e3d2b 100644
--- a/app/web/controllers/SystemCheck.scala
+++ b/app/web/controllers/SystemCheck.scala
@@ -3,11 +3,14 @@ package web.controllers
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
 
 import com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3
+import com.amazonaws.services.s3.model._
 import com.mongodb.BasicDBObject
 import com.mongodb.casbah.MongoDB
+
 import org.corespring.elasticsearch.WSClient
 import org.corespring.itemSearch.ElasticSearchConfig
 import org.corespring.models.error.CorespringInternalError
+
 import play.api.Play.current
 import play.api.cache.Cache
 import play.api.libs.concurrent.Execution.Implicits._
@@ -16,55 +19,42 @@ import play.api.mvc.{ Action, Controller }
 
 import scala.concurrent.duration.Duration
 import scala.concurrent.{ Await, Future }
+import scala.util.{ Failure, Success }
 
 class SystemCheck(s3: AmazonS3, db: MongoDB, elasticSearchConfig: ElasticSearchConfig) extends Controller {
 
-  def checkCache(): Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit] = {
-    Cache.set("test", "test")
-    Cache.get("test") match {
+  val timeUnit = Duration(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+
+  def checkCache(setCache: String, getCache: String): Future[Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit]] = Future {
+    Cache.set(setCache, setCache)
+    Cache.get(getCache) match {
       case Some(test) => if (test == "test") Right(())
       else Left(CorespringInternalError("did not retrieve correct value from cache"))
       case None => Left(CorespringInternalError("could not retrieve any value from cache"))
     }
   }
 
-  def checkS3(): Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit] = {
+  def checkS3(_s3: AmazonS3, bucket: String): Future[Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit]] = Future {
     try {
-      val testBucket = "corespring-system-check"
-      val testObject = "circle.png"
-      val getS3Object = s3.getObject(testBucket, testObject)
+      val testBucket = new HeadBucketRequest(bucket)
+      _s3.headBucket(testBucket)
       Right(())
     } catch {
-      case e: Throwable => Left(CorespringInternalError("S3 is not available"))
+      case e: Throwable => Left(CorespringInternalError("S3 / Bucket is not available"))
     }
   }
 
-  def checkDatabase(): Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit] = {
-
-    val mainDb = db
-    val dbmodels = Seq(
-      "accessTokens",
-      "apiClients",
-      "contentcolls",
-      "fieldValues",
-      "itemsessions",
-      "orgs",
-      "subjects",
-      "users")
+  def checkDatabase(_db: MongoDB, dbmodels: Seq[String]): Future[Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit]] = Future {
     dbmodels.foldRight[Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit]](Right(()))((dbmodel, result) => {
       if (result.isRight) {
-        mainDb.getCollection(dbmodel).findOne() match {
-          case _: BasicDBObject => Right(())
-          case _ => Left(CorespringInternalError("could not find collection: " + dbmodel))
-        }
+        if (_db.collectionExists(dbmodel)) Right(())
+        else Left(CorespringInternalError("could not find collection: " + dbmodel))
       } else result
     })
   }
 
-  def checkElasticSearch(): Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit] = {
-
-    val cfg = elasticSearchConfig
-    val elasticSearchClient = WSClient(cfg.url)
+  def checkElasticSearch(_elasticSearchConfig: ElasticSearchConfig): Future[Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit]] = Future {
+    val elasticSearchClient = WSClient(_elasticSearchConfig.url)
     val elasticClientResult = elasticSearchClient.request("_cluster/health").get.flatMap[Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit]](response => Future {
       response.status match {
         case 200 => Right(())
@@ -73,28 +63,53 @@ class SystemCheck(s3: AmazonS3, db: MongoDB, elasticSearchConfig: ElasticSearchC
     } recover {
       case timeout: java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException => Left(CorespringInternalError("Timed out while connecting to ElasticSearch cluster"))
     })
-    Await.result(elasticClientResult, Duration(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
+    Await.result(elasticClientResult, timeUnit);
   }
 
-  def index = Action.async {
 
-    val timeout = play.api.libs.concurrent.Promise.timeout("Oops", Duration(6, TimeUnit.SECONDS))
+  def index = Action.async {  
+
+    val timeoutCheck = play.api.libs.concurrent.Promise.timeout("Ooops", timeUnit).map {
+      case timeout: String =>  Left(CorespringInternalError("Timed out"))
+    }
+
+    val testCache = "test"
+    val bucket = "corespring-system-check"
+    val dbmodels = Seq(
+      "accessTokens",
+      "apiClients",
+      "contentcolls",
+      "fieldValues",
+      "itemsessions",
+      "orgs",
+      "subjects",
+      "users")
 
-    val runChecks: Future[Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit]] = scala.concurrent.Future {
-      val results = List(
-        checkS3(),
-        checkCache(),
-        checkDatabase(),
-        checkElasticSearch())
+    val futureCheckCache = checkCache(testCache,testCache)
+    val futureCheckS3 = checkS3(s3, bucket)
+    val futureCheckDatabase = checkDatabase(db, dbmodels)
+    val futureCheckElasticSearch = checkElasticSearch(elasticSearchConfig)
 
-      def isAnError(result: Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit]) = result match {
-        case Left(_) => true
-        case Right(_) => false
-      }
-      val errors = results.filter(isAnError)
+    def isAnError(result: Either[CorespringInternalError, Unit]) = result match {
+      case Left(_) => true
+      case Right(_) => false
+    }
 
-      if (errors.length == 0) Right()
-      else {
+    val results = Future.sequence(
+      Seq(
+        Future.firstCompletedOf(Seq(futureCheckCache, timeoutCheck)),
+        Future.firstCompletedOf(Seq(futureCheckS3, timeoutCheck)),
+        Future.firstCompletedOf(Seq(futureCheckDatabase, timeoutCheck)),
+        Future.firstCompletedOf(Seq(futureCheckElasticSearch, timeoutCheck))
+      )
+    )
+
+    results.map { res =>
+      val errors = res.filter(isAnError)
+
+      if (errors.length == 0) {
+        Ok
+      } else {
         val sb = new java.lang.StringBuilder
         errors.foreach { e =>
           e match {
@@ -104,17 +119,8 @@ class SystemCheck(s3: AmazonS3, db: MongoDB, elasticSearchConfig: ElasticSearchC
             case _ => Ok
           }
         }
-        Left(CorespringInternalError(sb.toString()))
-      }
-    }
-
-    Future.firstCompletedOf(Seq(runChecks, timeout)).map {
-      case timeout: String => BadRequest("timeout")
-      case Right(_) => Ok
-      case Left(error: CorespringInternalError) => {
-        InternalServerError(JsObject(Seq("error" -> JsString("a check failed"), "moreInfo" -> JsString(error.message))))
+        InternalServerError(JsObject(Seq("error" -> JsString("check(s) failed"), "moreInfo" -> JsString(sb.toString()))))
       }
-      case Left(_) => BadRequest("An unknown error occured")
     }
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/project/Dependencies.scala b/project/Dependencies.scala
index 0eb5a36e6..da4acc6bc 100644
--- a/project/Dependencies.scala
+++ b/project/Dependencies.scala
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ object Dependencies {
 
   val amapClient = "com.rabbitmq" % "amqp-client" % "3.0.2"
   val assetsLoader = ("com.ee" %% "assets-loader" % "0.12.5").exclude("com.yahoo.platform.yui", "yuicompressor")
-  val aws = "com.amazonaws" % "aws-java-sdk" % "1.10.0"
+  val aws = "com.amazonaws" % "aws-java-sdk" % "1.11.27"
   val casbah = "org.mongodb" %% "casbah" % "2.6.3"
   val closureCompiler = ("com.google.javascript" % "closure-compiler" % "rr2079.1" notTransitive ()).exclude("args4j", "args4j").exclude("com.google.guava", "guava").exclude("org.json", "json").exclude("com.google.protobuf", "protobuf-java").exclude("org.apache.ant", "ant").exclude("com.google.code.findbugs", "jsr305").exclude("com.googlecode.jarjar", "jarjar").exclude("junit", "junit")
   val commonsCodec = "commons-codec" % "commons-codec" % "1.10"