diff --git a/INSTALL.txt b/INSTALL.txt
index 4f1f635fc6007e45031787b3de6913ce5f5b627c..559133cef7f96337e28098604ed7066739ff06c8 100644
--- a/INSTALL.txt
+++ b/INSTALL.txt
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ Drupal requires a web server, PHP 4 (4.3.5 or greater) or PHP 5
 (http://www.php.net/) and either MySQL (http://www.mysql.com/) or PostgreSQL
 (http://www.postgresql.org/). The Apache web server and MySQL database are
 recommended; other web server and database combinations such as IIS and
-PostgreSQL have been tested to a lesser extent. When using MySQL, version 4.1
+PostgreSQL have been tested to a lesser extent. When using MySQL, version 4.1.1
 or greater is recommended to assure you can safely transfer the database.
 
 For more detailed information about Drupal requirements, see "Requirements"
diff --git a/includes/database.mysql.inc b/includes/database.mysql.inc
index 0b2636c66cd71a7cb96c1c738e2167fac0df42ac..a71c2371a1dca26870ed9113fc48d8ea476d45c5 100644
--- a/includes/database.mysql.inc
+++ b/includes/database.mysql.inc
@@ -80,10 +80,8 @@ function db_connect($url) {
     _db_error_page(mysql_error());
   }
 
-  // On MySQL 4.1 and later, force UTF-8.
-  if (version_compare(mysql_get_server_info(), '4.1.0', '>=')) {
-    mysql_query('SET NAMES "utf8"', $connection);
-  }
+  // Force UTF-8.
+  mysql_query('SET NAMES "utf8"', $connection);
   return $connection;
 }
 
diff --git a/modules/system/system.module b/modules/system/system.module
index b35092fb234563f0ba2e6b0fd09287328d16770a..1f1cac291537e4fd53354c9f99758402b9e1ac9d 100644
--- a/modules/system/system.module
+++ b/modules/system/system.module
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 /**
  * Minimum supported version of MySQL, if it is used.
  */
-define('DRUPAL_MINIMUM_MYSQL',  '4.1.0');
+define('DRUPAL_MINIMUM_MYSQL',  '4.1.1');
 
 /**
  * Minimum supported version of PostgreSQL, if it is used.