diff --git a/include/boost/numeric/odeint/integrate/detail/integrate_times.hpp b/include/boost/numeric/odeint/integrate/detail/integrate_times.hpp
index d5446ba5..2388f7cf 100644
--- a/include/boost/numeric/odeint/integrate/detail/integrate_times.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/numeric/odeint/integrate/detail/integrate_times.hpp
@@ -99,6 +99,8 @@ size_t integrate_times(
             if( st.try_step( system , start_state , current_time , current_dt ) == success )
             {
                 ++steps;
+                // successful step -> reset the fail counter, see #173
+                fail_steps = 0;
                 // continue with the original step size if dt was reduced due to observation
                 dt = max_abs( dt , current_dt );
             }
diff --git a/include/boost/numeric/odeint/stepper/dense_output_runge_kutta.hpp b/include/boost/numeric/odeint/stepper/dense_output_runge_kutta.hpp
index b685d92b..04195573 100644
--- a/include/boost/numeric/odeint/stepper/dense_output_runge_kutta.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/numeric/odeint/stepper/dense_output_runge_kutta.hpp
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ public:
             res = m_stepper.try_step( system , get_current_state() , get_current_deriv() , m_t ,
                                       get_old_state() , get_old_deriv() , m_dt );
             if( count++ == max_count )
-                BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION( std::overflow_error( "dense_output_controlled_explicit : too much iterations!") );
+                BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION( std::overflow_error( "dense_output_controlled_explicit : too many iterations!") );
         }
         while( res == fail );
         toggle_current_state();