diff --git a/cgi-bin/webnotes/db.py b/cgi-bin/webnotes/db.py
index 1f9336c0f0..e9a96f0e2f 100644
--- a/cgi-bin/webnotes/db.py
+++ b/cgi-bin/webnotes/db.py
@@ -11,10 +11,12 @@ class Database:
 	   login details from `defs.py`. This is called by the request handler and is accessible using
 	   the `conn` global variable. the `sql` method is also global to run queries
 	"""
-	def __init__(self, host='', user='', password='', ac_name = '', use_default = 0):
+	def __init__(self, host=None, user=None, password=None, ac_name=None, use_default = 0):
 		self.host = host or 'localhost'
 		self.user = user or getattr(defs, 'default_db_name', '')
-		self.password = password or getattr(defs, 'db_password', '')
+
+		# password can be empty string
+		self.password = password==None and getattr(defs, 'db_password', '') or password
 
 		if ac_name:
 			self.user = self.get_db_login(ac_name) or defs.default_db_name
diff --git a/cgi-bin/webnotes/utils/__init__.py b/cgi-bin/webnotes/utils/__init__.py
index c438a3c08f..80f7f5af1a 100644
--- a/cgi-bin/webnotes/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/cgi-bin/webnotes/utils/__init__.py
@@ -462,7 +462,7 @@ def get_defaults(key=None):
 	Get dictionary of default values from the :term:`Control Panel`, or a value if key is passed
 	"""
 	if key:
-		res = webnotes.conn.sql('select defvalue from `tabDefaultValue` where parent = "Control Panel" where defkey=%s', key)
+		res = webnotes.conn.sql('select defvalue from `tabDefaultValue` where parent = "Control Panel" and defkey=%s', key)
 		return res and res[0][0] or None
 	else:
 		res = webnotes.conn.sql('select defkey, defvalue from `tabDefaultValue` where parent = "Control Panel"')
diff --git a/cgi-bin/webnotes/utils/scheduler.py b/cgi-bin/webnotes/utils/scheduler.py
index 98dea0c0cd..1f3dcb9c86 100644
--- a/cgi-bin/webnotes/utils/scheduler.py
+++ b/cgi-bin/webnotes/utils/scheduler.py
@@ -24,11 +24,17 @@ python [path]webnotes/utils/scheduler.py
 
 class Scheduler:
 	def connect(self):
+		"""
+			Connect to the 'master_schduler' database
+		"""
 		if hasattr(self,'conn'): return
 		
 		import webnotes.defs, webnotes.db
-		self.conn = webnotes.db.Database(user='master_scheduler', 
-			password= webnotes.defs.__dict__.get('scheduler_password', webnotes.defs.db_password)
+		
+		pwd = webnotes.defs.__dict__.get('scheduler_password')
+		if pwd==None: pwd = webnotes.defs.db_password
+		
+		self.conn = webnotes.db.Database(user='master_scheduler',password=pwd)
 		
 	def set(self, event, interval, recurring, db_name=None):
 		"""