diff --git a/Lib/asyncore.py b/Lib/asyncore.py
index fba55e0d895..874f101681a 100644
--- a/Lib/asyncore.py
+++ b/Lib/asyncore.py
@@ -435,8 +435,11 @@ class dispatcher:
             self.handle_read()
 
     def handle_connect_event(self):
-        self.connected = True
+        err = self.socket.getsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_ERROR)
+        if err != 0:
+            raise socket.error(err, _strerror(err))
         self.handle_connect()
+        self.connected = True
 
     def handle_write_event(self):
         if self.accepting:
diff --git a/Misc/ACKS b/Misc/ACKS
index 75c3ae7b30e..bb00e0fcf71 100644
--- a/Misc/ACKS
+++ b/Misc/ACKS
@@ -895,3 +895,4 @@ Siebren van der Zee
 Uwe Zessin
 Tarek Ziadé
 Peter Åstrand
+Alexander Shigin
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index fcd450be037..f051eb4465a 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ Extensions
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #2944: asyncore doesn't handle connection refused correctly.
+
 - Issue #4184: Private attributes on smtpd.SMTPChannel made public and
   deprecate the private attributes. Add tests for smtpd module.