diff --git a/lib/stream.js b/lib/stream.js
index 530b087e491654..fa45b8b1e150bd 100644
--- a/lib/stream.js
+++ b/lib/stream.js
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ Stream.prototype.pipe = function(dest, options) {
   // If the 'end' option is not supplied, dest.end() will be called when
   // source gets the 'end' or 'close' events.  Only dest.end() once, and
   // only when all sources have ended.
-  if (!options || options.end !== false) {
+  if (!dest._isStdio && (!options || options.end !== false)) {
     dest._pipeCount = dest._pipeCount || 0;
     dest._pipeCount++;
 
diff --git a/src/node.js b/src/node.js
index f24a92ee22bed5..2d409eb534ff42 100644
--- a/src/node.js
+++ b/src/node.js
@@ -269,6 +269,8 @@
     // For supporting legacy API we put the FD here.
     stream.fd = fd;
 
+    stream._isStdio = true;
+
     return stream;
   }
 
@@ -278,14 +280,18 @@
     process.__defineGetter__('stdout', function() {
       if (stdout) return stdout;
       stdout = createWritableStdioStream(1);
-      stdout.end = stdout.destroy = stdout.destroySoon = function() { };
+      stdout.end = stdout.destroy = stdout.destroySoon = function() {
+        throw new Error('process.stdout cannot be closed');
+      };
       return stdout;
     });
 
     process.__defineGetter__('stderr', function() {
       if (stderr) return stderr;
       stderr = createWritableStdioStream(2);
-      stderr.end = stderr.destroy = stderr.destroySoon = function() { };
+      stderr.end = stderr.destroy = stderr.destroySoon = function() {
+        throw new Error('process.stderr cannot be closed');
+      };
       return stderr;
     });
 
diff --git a/test/simple/test-tty-stdout-end.js b/test/simple/test-tty-stdout-end.js
index c79e029e1e9297..f09bf8ac76f050 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-tty-stdout-end.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-tty-stdout-end.js
@@ -22,14 +22,15 @@
 // Can't test this when 'make test' doesn't assign a tty to the stdout.
 var common = require('../common');
 var assert = require('assert');
-var tty = require('tty');
 
-var closed = false;
-process.stdout.on('close', function() {
-  closed = true;
-});
-process.on('exit', function() {
-  assert.ok(closed);
-});
+var exceptionCaught = false;
 
-process.stdout.end();
+try {
+  process.stdout.end();
+} catch(e) {
+  exceptionCaught = true;
+  assert.ok(common.isError(e));
+  assert.equal('process.stdout cannot be closed', e.message);
+}
+
+assert.ok(exceptionCaught);