diff --git a/phpgwapi/inc/class.egw_session_memcache.inc.php b/phpgwapi/inc/class.egw_session_memcache.inc.php
index 0bd6632d64..936545f610 100644
--- a/phpgwapi/inc/class.egw_session_memcache.inc.php
+++ b/phpgwapi/inc/class.egw_session_memcache.inc.php
@@ -57,17 +57,6 @@ class egw_session_memcache
 	{
 		self::$mbstring_func_overload = @extension_loaded('mbstring') && (ini_get('mbstring.func_overload') & 2);
 
-		if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION,'5.2','>='))
-		{
-			$ret = session_set_save_handler(
-				array(__CLASS__,'open'),
-				array(__CLASS__,'close'),
-				array(__CLASS__,'read'),
-				array(__CLASS__,'write'),
-				array(__CLASS__,'destroy'),
-				array(__CLASS__,'gc'));
-			if (!$ret) error_log(__METHOD__.'() session_set_save_handler(...)='.(int)$ret.', session_module_name()='.session_module_name().' *******************************');
-		}
 		// session needs to be closed before objects get destroyed, as this session-handler is an object ;-)
 		register_shutdown_function('session_write_close');
 	}
@@ -81,6 +70,10 @@ class egw_session_memcache
 	 */
 	public static function open($save_path, $session_name)
 	{
+		if (!extension_loaded('memcache') && !dl(PHP_SHLIB_PREFIX.'memcache.'.PHP_SHLIB_SUFFIX))
+		{
+			throw new Exception("Required PHP extension 'memcache' not loaded AND can NOT be loaded!");
+		}
 		self::$memcache = new Memcache;
 		foreach(explode(',',$save_path) as $path)
 		{
@@ -270,19 +263,16 @@ class egw_session_memcache
 	}
 }
 
-if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION,'5.2','<'))
+function init_session_handler()
 {
-	function init_session_handler()
-	{
-		$ses = 'egw_session_memcache';
-		$ret = session_set_save_handler(
-			array($ses,'open'),
-			array($ses,'close'),
-			array($ses,'read'),
-			array($ses,'write'),
-			array($ses,'destroy'),
-			array($ses,'gc'));
-		if (!$ret) error_log(__METHOD__.'() session_set_save_handler(...)='.(int)$ret.', session_module_name()='.session_module_name().' *******************************');
-	}
-	init_session_handler();
+	$ses = 'egw_session_memcache';
+	$ret = session_set_save_handler(
+		array($ses,'open'),
+		array($ses,'close'),
+		array($ses,'read'),
+		array($ses,'write'),
+		array($ses,'destroy'),
+		array($ses,'gc'));
+	if (!$ret) error_log(__METHOD__.'() session_set_save_handler(...)='.(int)$ret.', session_module_name()='.session_module_name().' *******************************');
 }
+init_session_handler();
\ No newline at end of file