diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 6cea8bd4c6..439c784c8d 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -556,12 +556,8 @@ RedisClient.prototype.connection_gone = function (why, error) {
             if (this.retry_delay instanceof Error) {
                 error = this.retry_delay;
             }
-            var errorMessage = 'Redis connection in broken state: ';
-            if (this.retry_totaltime >= this.connect_timeout) {
-                errorMessage += 'connection timeout exceeded.';
-            } else {
-                errorMessage += 'maximum connection attempts exceeded.';
-            }
+
+            var errorMessage = 'Redis connection in broken state: retry aborted.';
 
             this.flush_and_error({
                 message: errorMessage,
@@ -581,13 +577,7 @@ RedisClient.prototype.connection_gone = function (why, error) {
     }
 
     if (this.retry_totaltime >= this.connect_timeout) {
-        var message = 'Redis connection in broken state: ';
-        if (this.retry_totaltime >= this.connect_timeout) {
-            message += 'connection timeout exceeded.';
-        } else {
-            message += 'maximum connection attempts exceeded.';
-        }
-
+        var message = 'Redis connection in broken state: connection timeout exceeded.';
         this.flush_and_error({
             message: message,
             code: 'CONNECTION_BROKEN',
@@ -864,11 +854,9 @@ RedisClient.prototype.internal_send_command = function (command_obj) {
             if (command_obj.args && command_obj.args.length) {
                 undefinedArgError.args = command_obj.args;
             }
-            if (command_obj.callback) {
-                command_obj.callback(undefinedArgError);
-                return false;
-            }
-            throw undefinedArgError;
+            // there is always a callback in this scenario
+            command_obj.callback(undefinedArgError);
+            return false;
         } else {
             // Seems like numbers are converted fast using string concatenation
             args_copy[i] = '' + args[i];
diff --git a/test/commands/set.spec.js b/test/commands/set.spec.js
index d2d36491a9..33a8bfa22c 100644
--- a/test/commands/set.spec.js
+++ b/test/commands/set.spec.js
@@ -150,6 +150,10 @@ describe("The 'set' method", function () {
                         client.get('foo', helper.isNull(done));
                     });
 
+                    it('calls callback with error if null value is passed', function (done) {
+                        client.set('foo', null, helper.isError(done));
+                    });
+
                     it('emit an error with only the key set', function (done) {
                         client.on('error', function (err) {
                             assert.equal(err.message, "ERR wrong number of arguments for 'set' command");
diff --git a/test/connection.spec.js b/test/connection.spec.js
index 0913a26ff6..7c153b3926 100644
--- a/test/connection.spec.js
+++ b/test/connection.spec.js
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ describe('connection tests', function () {
                         retryStrategy: function (options) {
                             if (options.totalRetryTime > 150) {
                                 client.set('foo', 'bar', function (err, res) {
-                                    assert.strictEqual(err.message, 'Redis connection in broken state: maximum connection attempts exceeded.');
+                                    assert.strictEqual(err.message, 'Redis connection in broken state: retry aborted.');
                                     assert.strictEqual(err.origin.message, 'Connection timeout');
                                     done();
                                 });
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ describe('connection tests', function () {
                         retry_strategy: function (options) {
                             if (options.total_retry_time > 150) {
                                 client.set('foo', 'bar', function (err, res) {
-                                    assert.strictEqual(err.message, 'Redis connection in broken state: maximum connection attempts exceeded.');
+                                    assert.strictEqual(err.message, 'Redis connection in broken state: retry aborted.');
                                     assert.strictEqual(err.code, 'CONNECTION_BROKEN');
                                     assert.strictEqual(err.origin.code, 'ECONNREFUSED');
                                     done();
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ describe('connection tests', function () {
                     }, 50);
                     client.on('error', function (err) {
                         if (err instanceof redis.AbortError) {
-                            assert.strictEqual(err.message, 'Redis connection in broken state: maximum connection attempts exceeded.');
+                            assert.strictEqual(err.message, 'Redis connection in broken state: retry aborted.');
                             assert.strictEqual(err.code, 'CONNECTION_BROKEN');
                             unhookIntercept();
                             redis.debugMode = false;
diff --git a/test/multi.spec.js b/test/multi.spec.js
index 498168f9d5..2465dfc2d0 100644
--- a/test/multi.spec.js
+++ b/test/multi.spec.js
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ describe("The 'multi' method", function () {
                     });
 
                     client.multi([['set', 'foo', 'bar'], ['get', 'foo']]).exec(function (err, res) {
-                        assert(/Redis connection in broken state: maximum connection attempts exceeded/.test(err.message));
+                        assert(/Redis connection in broken state: retry aborted/.test(err.message));
                         assert.strictEqual(err.errors.length, 2);
                         assert.strictEqual(err.errors[0].args.length, 2);
                     });