diff --git a/activerecord/CHANGELOG b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
index 3d635fbf624d7eeafbb1892bb9f0054f35d8d3c1..ea60758a3ffda13d130d1b73f248caf6bc90273c 100644
--- a/activerecord/CHANGELOG
+++ b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* MySQL: active? compatibility with the pure-Ruby driver.  #428 [Jeremy Kemper]
+
 * Oracle: active? check pings the database rather than testing the last command status.  #428 [Michael Schoen]
 
 * SQLServer: resolve column aliasing/quoting collision when using limit or offset in an eager find.  #2974 [kajism@yahoo.com]
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql_adapter.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql_adapter.rb
index 76ea6e65303aa5952cc300ea324cdd6a3afe2374..c43a84a386666ac5dff63d597109cf38e33d2fc8 100755
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql_adapter.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql_adapter.rb
@@ -150,7 +150,11 @@ def quoted_false
       # CONNECTION MANAGEMENT ====================================
 
       def active?
-        @connection.stat if @connection.respond_to?(:stat)
+        if @connection.respond_to?(:stat)
+          @connection.stat
+        else
+          @connection.query 'select 1'
+        end
         true
       rescue Mysql::Error
         false