diff --git a/Control/AthenaKernel/test/CondCont_test.cxx b/Control/AthenaKernel/test/CondCont_test.cxx
index e677f08cbb28ec2bc4399b07844758fe52427cf6..15b5fe7786dfb63b55e1ad1a404ba98195d13862 100644
--- a/Control/AthenaKernel/test/CondCont_test.cxx
+++ b/Control/AthenaKernel/test/CondCont_test.cxx
@@ -787,9 +787,11 @@ void test5 (TestRCUSvc& rcusvc)
   exp2 << "{[2,t:120,l:10] - [2,t:130,l:20]} " << bptrs[5] << "\n";
   exp2 << "{[2,t:130,l:10] - [2,t:135,l:20]} " << bptrs[6] << "\n";
   exp2 << "{[20,t:120,l:10] - [20,t:130,l:40]} " << bptrs[8] << "\n";
-  //                                                  xxx 
-  //std::cout << "ss2: " << ss2.str() << "\nexp2: " << exp2.str() << "\n";
-  assert (ss2.str() == exp2.str());
+  if (ss2.str() != exp2.str()) {
+    std::cout << "ss2: " << ss2.str() << "\nexp2: " << exp2.str() << "\n";
+    std::cout.flush();
+    std::abort();
+  }
 }