diff --git a/common/lib/capa/capa/javascript_problem_generator.js b/common/lib/capa/capa/javascript_problem_generator.js
index 8c8d39b19f..1cd4616c5a 100644
--- a/common/lib/capa/capa/javascript_problem_generator.js
+++ b/common/lib/capa/capa/javascript_problem_generator.js
@@ -11,13 +11,11 @@ importAll("xproblem");
 
 generatorModulePath = process.argv[2];
 dependencies        = JSON.parse(process.argv[3]);
-seed                = process.argv[4];
+seed                = JSON.parse(process.argv[4]);
 params              = JSON.parse(process.argv[5]);
 
 if(seed==null){
     seed = 4;
-}else{
-    seed = parseInt(seed);
 }
 
 for(var i = 0; i < dependencies.length; i++){
diff --git a/common/lib/capa/capa/responsetypes.py b/common/lib/capa/capa/responsetypes.py
index b803452b8c..d9216f06d6 100644
--- a/common/lib/capa/capa/responsetypes.py
+++ b/common/lib/capa/capa/responsetypes.py
@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ class JavascriptResponse(LoncapaResponse):
         output = self.call_node([generator_file,
                                  self.generator, 
                                  json.dumps(self.generator_dependencies),
-                                 json.dumps(str(self.system.seed)), 
+                                 json.dumps(self.context['random'].getrandbits(9)), 
                                  json.dumps(self.params)]).strip()
 
         return json.loads(output)