diff --git a/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php b/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
index 453ddcc..14949ec 100644
--- a/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
+++ b/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@
 		{
 			$port = empty($this->port) ? NULL : $this->port;
 
-			$mysqli = mysqli_init();
-			$mysqli->real_connect($this->hostname, $this->username, $this->password, $this->database, $port, NULL, MYSQLI_CLIENT_COMPRESS);
+			$mysqli = new mysqli();
+			@$mysqli->real_connect($this->hostname, $this->username, $this->password, $this->database, $port, NULL, MYSQLI_CLIENT_COMPRESS);
 
 			return $mysqli;
 		}
@@ -418,6 +418,14 @@
 	 */
 	public function error()
 	{
+		if ( ! empty($this->conn_id->connect_errno))
+		{
+			return array(
+				'code' => $this->conn_id->connect_errno,
+				'message' => is_php('5.2.9') ? $this->conn_id->connect_error : mysqli_connect_error()
+			);
+		}
+
 		return array('code' => $this->conn_id->errno, 'message' => $this->conn_id->error);
 	}
 
diff --git a/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst b/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
index 62992d2..40ba218 100644
--- a/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
+++ b/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
@@ -355,6 +355,7 @@
 -  Fixed a bug (#395) - :doc:`Unit Testing Library <libraries/unit_testing>` method ``result()`` didn't properly check array result columns when called from ``report()``.
 -  Fixed a bug (#1692) - :doc:`Database Library <database/index>` method ``display_error()`` didn't properly trace the possible error source on Windows systems.
 -  Fixed a bug (#1745) - ``is_write_type()`` method in the :doc:`Database Library <database/index>` didn't return TRUE for LOAD queries.
+-  Fixed a bug (#1765) - :doc:`Database Library <database/index>` didn't properly detect connection errors for MySQLi.
 
 Version 2.1.2
 =============