diff --git a/integration/test_client.py b/integration/test_client.py
index 2891e3d2b..7742e197a 100644
--- a/integration/test_client.py
+++ b/integration/test_client.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
+import os
 from typing import Callable, Generator, Optional, Tuple, Union
+from unittest import mock
 
 import pytest
 from _pytest.fixtures import SubRequest
@@ -667,3 +669,16 @@ async def test_sync_client_inside_async_client(caplog: pytest.LogCaptureFixture)
             assert client.is_ready()
             assert await aclient.is_ready()
             assert "BlockingIOError: [Errno 35] Resource temporarily unavailable" not in caplog.text
+
+
+def test_sync_client_connects_even_if_pypi_fails():
+    with mock.patch.dict(os.environ, {"PYPI_PACKAGE_URL": "http://does-not-exist"}):
+        with weaviate.connect_to_local() as client:
+            assert client.is_ready()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_async_client_connects_even_if_pypi_fails():
+    with mock.patch.dict(os.environ, {"PYPI_PACKAGE_URL": "http://does-not-exist"}):
+        async with weaviate.use_async_with_local() as client:
+            assert await client.is_ready()
diff --git a/test/collection/test_config_methods.py b/test/collection/test_config_methods.py
index 4edf76e47..fbc33b702 100644
--- a/test/collection/test_config_methods.py
+++ b/test/collection/test_config_methods.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
-
-import pytest
 from weaviate.collections.classes.config_methods import _collection_configs_simple_from_json
 
+
 def test_collection_config_simple_from_json_with_none_vectorizer_config() -> None:
     """Test that _collection_configs_simple_from_json handles None vectorizer config."""
     schema = {
@@ -10,9 +9,7 @@ def test_collection_config_simple_from_json_with_none_vectorizer_config() -> Non
                 "class": "TestCollection",
                 "vectorConfig": {
                     "default": {
-                        "vectorizer": {
-                            "text2vec-transformers": None
-                        },
+                        "vectorizer": {"text2vec-transformers": None},
                         "vectorIndexType": "hnsw",
                         "vectorIndexConfig": {
                             "skip": False,
@@ -25,15 +22,15 @@ def test_collection_config_simple_from_json_with_none_vectorizer_config() -> Non
                             "dynamicEfFactor": 8,
                             "vectorCacheMaxObjects": 1000000000000,
                             "flatSearchCutoff": 40000,
-                            "distance": "cosine"
-                        }
+                            "distance": "cosine",
+                        },
                     }
                 },
                 "properties": [],
                 "invertedIndexConfig": {
-                        "bm25": {"b": 0.75, "k1": 1.2},
-                        "cleanupIntervalSeconds": 60,
-                        "stopwords": {"preset": "en", "additions": None, "removals": None}
+                    "bm25": {"b": 0.75, "k1": 1.2},
+                    "cleanupIntervalSeconds": 60,
+                    "stopwords": {"preset": "en", "additions": None, "removals": None},
                 },
                 "replicationConfig": {"factor": 1, "deletionStrategy": "NoAutomatedResolution"},
                 "shardingConfig": {
@@ -44,7 +41,7 @@ def test_collection_config_simple_from_json_with_none_vectorizer_config() -> Non
                     "actualVirtualCount": 128,
                     "key": "_id",
                     "strategy": "hash",
-                    "function": "murmur3"
+                    "function": "murmur3",
                 },
                 "vectorIndexType": "hnsw",
                 "vectorIndexConfig": {
@@ -58,8 +55,8 @@ def test_collection_config_simple_from_json_with_none_vectorizer_config() -> Non
                     "dynamicEfFactor": 8,
                     "vectorCacheMaxObjects": 1000000000000,
                     "flatSearchCutoff": 40000,
-                    "distance": "cosine"
-                }
+                    "distance": "cosine",
+                },
             }
         ]
     }
diff --git a/weaviate/connect/v4.py b/weaviate/connect/v4.py
index 0afb62ffe..2b47cface 100644
--- a/weaviate/connect/v4.py
+++ b/weaviate/connect/v4.py
@@ -738,15 +738,19 @@ def resp(res: Response) -> None:
             if is_weaviate_client_too_old(client_version, latest_version):
                 _Warnings.weaviate_client_too_old_vs_latest(client_version, latest_version)
 
-        try:
-            if colour == "async":
+        if colour == "async":
 
-                async def _execute() -> None:
+            async def _execute() -> None:
+                try:
                     async with AsyncClient() as client:
                         res = await client.get(PYPI_PACKAGE_URL, timeout=self.timeout_config.init)
                     return resp(res)
+                except RequestError:
+                    pass  # ignore any errors related to requests, it is a best-effort warning
+
+            return _execute()
 
-                return _execute()
+        try:
             with Client() as client:
                 res = client.get(PYPI_PACKAGE_URL, timeout=self.timeout_config.init)
             return resp(res)