diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/course_module.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/course_module.py
index f00a22782c..7aa904205d 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/course_module.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/course_module.py
@@ -99,7 +99,14 @@ class CourseDescriptor(SequenceDescriptor):
     def definition_from_xml(cls, xml_object, system):
         textbooks = []
         for textbook in xml_object.findall("textbook"):
-            textbooks.append(cls.Textbook.from_xml_object(textbook))
+            try:
+                txt = cls.Textbook.from_xml_object(textbook)
+            except:
+                # If we can't get to S3 (e.g. on a train with no internet), don't break
+                # the rest of the courseware.
+                log.exception("Couldn't load textbook")
+                continue
+            textbooks.append(txt)
             xml_object.remove(textbook)
 
         #Load the wiki tag if it exists
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/courseware/tests/tests.py b/lms/djangoapps/courseware/tests/tests.py
index 62456d65d5..f3b086748d 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/courseware/tests/tests.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/courseware/tests/tests.py
@@ -222,16 +222,9 @@ class PageLoader(ActivateLoginTestCase):
         handling.
         """
         resp = self.client.get(url)
-        # HACK: workaround the bug that returns 200 instead of 404.
-        # TODO (vshnayder): once we're returning 404s, get rid of this if.
-        if code != 404:
-            self.assertEqual(resp.status_code, code)
-            # And 'page not found' shouldn't be in the returned page
-            self.assertTrue(resp.content.lower().find('page not found') == -1)
-        else:
-            # look for "page not found" instead of the status code
-            #print resp.content
-            self.assertTrue(resp.content.lower().find('page not found') != -1)
+        self.assertEqual(resp.status_code, code,
+                         "got code {0} for url '{1}'. Expected code {2}"
+                         .format(resp.status_code, url, code))
 
 
     def check_pages_load(self, course_name, data_dir, modstore):
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/static_template_view/views.py b/lms/djangoapps/static_template_view/views.py
index 90087e06d6..8ab6216eda 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/static_template_view/views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/static_template_view/views.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 from mitxmako.shortcuts import render_to_response, render_to_string
 from django.shortcuts import redirect
 from django.conf import settings
+from django.http import HttpResponseNotFound, HttpResponseServerError
 from django_future.csrf import ensure_csrf_cookie
 
 from util.cache import cache_if_anonymous
@@ -40,9 +41,9 @@ def render(request, template):
 
 
 def render_404(request):
-    return render_to_response('static_templates/404.html', {})
+    return HttpResponseNotFound(render_to_string('static_templates/404.html', {}))
 
 
 def render_500(request):
-    return render_to_response('static_templates/server-error.html', {})
+    return HttpResponseServerError(render_to_string('static_templates/server-error.html', {}))
 
diff --git a/rakefile b/rakefile
index 053abf56a8..9e0bbcbfa4 100644
--- a/rakefile
+++ b/rakefile
@@ -227,3 +227,13 @@ namespace :cms do
     end
   end
 end
+
+desc "Build a properties file used to trigger autodeploy builds"
+task :autodeploy_properties do
+    File.open("autodeploy.properties", "w") do |file|
+        file.puts("UPSTREAM_NOOP=false")
+        file.puts("UPSTREAM_BRANCH=#{BRANCH}")
+        file.puts("UPSTREAM_JOB=#{PACKAGE_NAME}")
+        file.puts("UPSTREAM_REVISION=#{COMMIT}")
+    end
+end