diff --git a/dmenubar/config.mk b/dmenubar/config.mk
index 07b323b..75cc46d 100644
--- a/dmenubar/config.mk
+++ b/dmenubar/config.mk
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # dmenu version
-VERSION = 2.7
+VERSION = 2.8
 
 # Customize below to fit your system
 
diff --git a/dmenubar/main.c b/dmenubar/main.c
index 0f07773..fa03ec8 100644
--- a/dmenubar/main.c
+++ b/dmenubar/main.c
@@ -108,11 +108,17 @@ drawmenu(void) {
 	XFlush(dpy);
 }
 
-static void
+static Bool
 grabkeyboard(void) {
-	while(XGrabKeyboard(dpy, root, True, GrabModeAsync,
-			 GrabModeAsync, CurrentTime) != GrabSuccess)
+	unsigned int len;
+
+	for(len = 1000; len; len--) {
+		if(XGrabKeyboard(dpy, root, True, GrabModeAsync, GrabModeAsync, CurrentTime)
+			== GrabSuccess)
+			break;
 		usleep(1000);
+	}
+	return len > 0;
 }
 
 static unsigned long
@@ -456,10 +462,10 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 	root = RootWindow(dpy, screen);
 	if(isatty(STDIN_FILENO)) {
 		maxname = readstdin();
-		grabkeyboard();
+		running = grabkeyboard();
 	}
 	else { /* prevent keypress loss */
-		grabkeyboard();
+		running = grabkeyboard();
 		maxname = readstdin();
 	}
 	/* init modifier map */