diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Popup/Framed.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Popup/Framed.js
index ebd017f6a1..4b864b6f7e 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Popup/Framed.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Popup/Framed.js
@@ -248,6 +248,12 @@ OpenLayers.Popup.Framed =
      * Method: createBlocks
      */
     createBlocks: function() {
+        if (!this.relativePosition) {
+            // this.relativePosition can't be set until we have a map
+            // set: if it's not set, we can't create blocks. (See #1479) 
+            return false; 
+        }    
+        
         this.blocks = [];
 
         var position = this.positionBlocks[this.relativePosition];
@@ -274,6 +280,8 @@ OpenLayers.Popup.Framed =
             block.div.appendChild(block.image);
             this.groupDiv.appendChild(block.div);
         }
+        
+        return true;
     },
 
     /**
@@ -283,11 +291,14 @@ OpenLayers.Popup.Framed =
      *     the popup's blocks in their appropropriate places.
      */
     updateBlocks: function() {
-
         if (!this.blocks) {
-            this.createBlocks();
+            var cont = this.createBlocks();
+            if (!cont) { 
+                return false;
+            }     
         }
-
+        
+        
         var position = this.positionBlocks[this.relativePosition];
         for (var i = 0; i < position.blocks.length; i++) {
 
diff --git a/tests/Popup/FramedCloud.html b/tests/Popup/FramedCloud.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b7f33257a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Popup/FramedCloud.html
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<html>
+<head>
+  <script src="../../lib/OpenLayers.js"></script>
+  <script type="text/javascript">
+
+   function test_Popup_FramedCloud_setHTML(t) { 
+        t.plan(1);
+        popup = new OpenLayers.Popup.FramedCloud();
+        popup.setContentHTML("<p></p>");
+        t.ok("setHTML on popup not yet added to map doesn't fail");
+   }
+
+  </script>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="map" style="width:512px; height:256px"> </div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/tests/list-tests.html b/tests/list-tests.html
index 94ba67900c..209fb506d8 100644
--- a/tests/list-tests.html
+++ b/tests/list-tests.html
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
     <li>Popup.html</li>
     <li>Popup/Anchored.html</li>
     <li>Popup/AnchoredBubble.html</li>
+    <li>Popup/FramedCloud.html</li>
     <li>Feature.html</li>
     <li>Feature/Vector.html</li>
     <li>Style.html</li>
