diff --git a/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/README.txt b/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/README.txt
index f984b0294f0e..e01632b07cea 100644
--- a/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/README.txt
+++ b/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/README.txt
@@ -36,8 +36,10 @@ Read the code in src/ for more details.
 The word_count_counters example sums the counter columns for a row. The output
 is written to a text file in /tmp/word_count_counters.
 
-*If you want to point wordcount at a real cluster, modify the seed
-and listenaddress settings accordingly.
+*It is recommended to turn off vnodes when running Cassandra with hadoop. 
+This is done by setting "num_tokens: 1" in cassandra.yaml. If you want to
+point wordcount at a real cluster, modify the seed and listenaddress 
+settings accordingly.
 
 
 Troubleshooting
diff --git a/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/conf/log4j.properties b/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/conf/log4j.properties
index 70f7657591e9..508d60fa2d0a 100644
--- a/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/conf/log4j.properties
+++ b/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/conf/log4j.properties
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 # specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
-log4j.rootLogger=DEBUG,stdout,F
+log4j.rootLogger=INFO,stdout,F
 
 #stdout
 log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
diff --git a/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/src/WordCountSetup.java b/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/src/WordCountSetup.java
index ebf7485d6b60..cffe2724c14a 100644
--- a/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/src/WordCountSetup.java
+++ b/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/src/WordCountSetup.java
@@ -70,7 +70,10 @@ private static void setupKeyspace(Cassandra.Iface client)
 
             client.execute_cql3_query(ByteBufferUtil.bytes(query), Compression.NONE, ConsistencyLevel.ONE);
 
-            int magnitude = client.describe_ring(WordCount.KEYSPACE).size();
+	    String verifyQuery = "select count(*) from system.peers";
+            CqlResult result = client.execute_cql3_query(ByteBufferUtil.bytes(verifyQuery), Compression.NONE, ConsistencyLevel.ONE);
+
+            long magnitude = ByteBufferUtil.toLong(result.rows.get(0).columns.get(0).value);
             try
             {
                 Thread.sleep(1000 * magnitude);
diff --git a/examples/hadoop_word_count/README.txt b/examples/hadoop_word_count/README.txt
index cf8a34469e5c..9a9390836651 100644
--- a/examples/hadoop_word_count/README.txt
+++ b/examples/hadoop_word_count/README.txt
@@ -37,8 +37,10 @@ Read the code in src/ for more details.
 The word_count_counters example sums the counter columns for a row. The output
 is written to a text file in /tmp/word_count_counters.
 
-*If you want to point wordcount at a real cluster, modify the seed
-and listenaddress settings accordingly.
+*It is recommended to turn off vnodes when running Cassandra with hadoop.
+This is done by setting "num_tokens: 1" in cassandra.yaml. If you want to
+point wordcount at a real cluster, modify the seed and listenaddress
+settings accordingly.
 
 
 Troubleshooting
diff --git a/examples/hadoop_word_count/conf/log4j.properties b/examples/hadoop_word_count/conf/log4j.properties
index 70f7657591e9..508d60fa2d0a 100644
--- a/examples/hadoop_word_count/conf/log4j.properties
+++ b/examples/hadoop_word_count/conf/log4j.properties
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 # specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
-log4j.rootLogger=DEBUG,stdout,F
+log4j.rootLogger=INFO,stdout,F
 
 #stdout
 log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
diff --git a/examples/hadoop_word_count/src/WordCountSetup.java b/examples/hadoop_word_count/src/WordCountSetup.java
index e2223272831c..6dd2ba762879 100644
--- a/examples/hadoop_word_count/src/WordCountSetup.java
+++ b/examples/hadoop_word_count/src/WordCountSetup.java
@@ -176,10 +176,33 @@ private static void setupKeyspace(Cassandra.Iface client) throws TException, Inv
         KsDef ksDef = new KsDef(WordCount.KEYSPACE, "org.apache.cassandra.locator.SimpleStrategy", cfDefList);
         ksDef.putToStrategy_options("replication_factor", "1");
         client.system_add_keyspace(ksDef);
-        int magnitude = client.describe_ring(WordCount.KEYSPACE).size();
+
+	int magnitude = getNumberOfHosts(client);
         Uninterruptibles.sleepUninterruptibly(magnitude, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
     }
 
+    private static int getNumberOfHosts(Cassandra.Iface client)
+            throws InvalidRequestException, UnavailableException, TimedOutException, TException
+    {
+        client.set_keyspace("system");
+        SlicePredicate predicate = new SlicePredicate();
+        SliceRange sliceRange = new SliceRange();
+        sliceRange.setStart(new byte[0]);
+        sliceRange.setFinish(new byte[0]);
+        predicate.setSlice_range(sliceRange);
+
+        KeyRange keyrRange = new KeyRange();
+        keyrRange.setStart_key(new byte[0]);
+        keyrRange.setEnd_key(new byte[0]);
+        //keyrRange.setCount(100);
+
+        ColumnParent parent = new ColumnParent("peers");
+
+        List<KeySlice> ls = client.get_range_slices(parent, predicate, keyrRange, ConsistencyLevel.ONE);
+
+        return ls.size();
+    }
+
     private static Cassandra.Iface createConnection() throws TTransportException
     {
         if (System.getProperty("cassandra.host") == null || System.getProperty("cassandra.port") == null)