diff --git a/bin/pt-table-checksum b/bin/pt-table-checksum
index 11573324..135f9888 100755
--- a/bin/pt-table-checksum
+++ b/bin/pt-table-checksum
@@ -6015,7 +6015,11 @@ sub main {
          PTDEBUG && _d($dbh, $sql);
          my (undef, $curr_lwt) = $dbh->selectrow_array($sql);
          PTDEBUG && _d('innodb_lock_wait_timeout on server:', $curr_lwt);
-         if ( $curr_lwt > $lock_wait_timeout ) { 
+         if ( !defined $curr_lwt ) {
+            PTDEBUG && _d('innodb_lock_wait_timeout does not exist;',
+               'InnoDB is probably disabled');
+         }
+         elsif ( $curr_lwt > $lock_wait_timeout ) { 
             warn "Failed to $set_lwt: $EVAL_ERROR\n"
                . "The current innodb_lock_wait_timeout value "
                . "$curr_lwt is greater than the --lock-wait-timeout "
diff --git a/sandbox/start-sandbox b/sandbox/start-sandbox
index a2e31c28..b146ab40 100755
--- a/sandbox/start-sandbox
+++ b/sandbox/start-sandbox
@@ -43,16 +43,21 @@ make_sandbox() {
    if [ -n "$GENLOG" ]; then
       echo "log=genlog" >> /tmp/$port/my.sandbox.cnf
    fi
+   if [ -n "$SKIP_INNODB" ]; then
+      echo "skip-innodb" >> /tmp/$port/my.sandbox.cnf
+   fi
 
    # Start the sandbox and check that it has InnoDB.
    /tmp/$port/start
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
-      /tmp/$port/use -e 'SHOW /*!40100 ENGINE*/ INNODB STATUS' | grep 'INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT' >/dev/null 2>&1
-      # grep exits 0 if lines are found
-      if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-         echo "****** WARNING sandbox doesn't have a working InnoDB! ******" >&2
-         cat /tmp/$port/data/mysqld.log >&2
-         exit 1
+      if [ -z "$SKIP_INNODB" ]; then
+         /tmp/$port/use -e 'SHOW /*!40100 ENGINE*/ INNODB STATUS' | grep 'INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT' >/dev/null 2>&1
+         # grep exits 0 if lines are found
+         if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+            echo "****** WARNING sandbox doesn't have a working InnoDB! ******" >&2
+            cat /tmp/$port/data/mysqld.log >&2
+            exit 1
+         fi
       fi
    else
       echo "Sandbox $type $port failed to start." >&2
diff --git a/t/pt-table-checksum/skip_innodb.t b/t/pt-table-checksum/skip_innodb.t
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..017b3c97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/pt-table-checksum/skip_innodb.t
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+
+BEGIN {
+   die "The PERCONA_TOOLKIT_BRANCH environment variable is not set.\n"
+      unless $ENV{PERCONA_TOOLKIT_BRANCH} && -d $ENV{PERCONA_TOOLKIT_BRANCH};
+   unshift @INC, "$ENV{PERCONA_TOOLKIT_BRANCH}/lib";
+};
+
+use strict;
+use warnings FATAL => 'all';
+use English qw(-no_match_vars);
+use Test::More;
+
+use PerconaTest;
+use Sandbox;
+shift @INC;  # our unshift (above)
+shift @INC;  # PerconaTest's unshift
+require "$trunk/bin/pt-table-checksum";
+
+diag(`$trunk/sandbox/stop-sandbox 12348 >/dev/null`);
+diag(`SKIP_INNODB=1 $trunk/sandbox/start-sandbox master 12348 >/dev/null`);
+
+diag(`$trunk/sandbox/stop-sandbox 12349 >/dev/null`);
+diag(`SKIP_INNODB=1 $trunk/sandbox/start-sandbox slave 12349 12348 >/dev/null`);
+
+my $dp = new DSNParser(opts=>$dsn_opts);
+my $sb = new Sandbox(basedir => '/tmp', DSNParser => $dp);
+my $master_dbh = $sb->get_dbh_for('master1');
+my $slave_dbh  = $sb->get_dbh_for('master2');
+
+if ( !$master_dbh ) {
+   plan skip_all => 'Cannot connect to sandbox master 12348';
+}
+elsif ( !$slave_dbh ) {
+   plan skip_all => 'Cannot connect to sandbox slave 12349';
+}
+else {
+   plan tests => 2;
+}
+
+# The sandbox servers run with lock_wait_timeout=3 and it's not dynamic
+# so we need to specify --lock-wait-timeout=3 else the tool will die.
+# And --max-load "" prevents waiting for status variables.
+my $master_dsn = 'h=127.1,P=12348,u=msandbox,p=msandbox';
+my $slave_dnn  = 'P=12349';
+my @args       = ($master_dsn, qw(--lock-wait-timeout 3), '--max-load', ''); 
+my $output;
+my $retval;
+
+$output = output(
+   sub { $retval = pt_table_checksum::main(@args) },
+   stderr => 1,
+);
+
+like(
+   $output,
+   qr/mysql/,
+   "Ran without InnoDB (bug 994010)"
+);
+
+is(
+   $retval,
+   0,
+   "0 exit status (bug 994010)"
+);
+
+# #############################################################################
+# Done.
+# #############################################################################
+diag(`$trunk/sandbox/stop-sandbox 12349 >/dev/null`);
+diag(`$trunk/sandbox/stop-sandbox 12348 >/dev/null`);
+exit;