diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index c3f0ec61e1b..b7e80a9d2df 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ What's New in Python 2.7 alpha 1
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
 
+- Issue #3996: On Windows, the PyOS_CheckStack function would cause the
+  interpreter to abort ("Fatal Python error: Could not reset the stack!")
+  instead of throwing a MemoryError.
+
 - Issue #4367: Python would segfault during compiling when the unicodedata
   module couldn't be imported and \N escapes were present.
 
diff --git a/Python/pythonrun.c b/Python/pythonrun.c
index 4ff70d85430..54f3c5784bd 100644
--- a/Python/pythonrun.c
+++ b/Python/pythonrun.c
@@ -1755,7 +1755,7 @@ PyOS_CheckStack(void)
 		        EXCEPTION_EXECUTE_HANDLER : 
 		        EXCEPTION_CONTINUE_SEARCH) {
 		int errcode = _resetstkoflw();
-		if (errcode)
+		if (errcode == 0)
 		{
 			Py_FatalError("Could not reset the stack!");
 		}