diff --git a/libsrc4/nc4var.c b/libsrc4/nc4var.c
index 5e902dd71..fb379f76f 100644
--- a/libsrc4/nc4var.c
+++ b/libsrc4/nc4var.c
@@ -977,18 +977,12 @@ nc_def_var_extra(int ncid, int varid, int *shuffle, int *deflate,
    /* Find info for this file and group, and set pointer to each. */
    if ((retval = nc4_find_nc_grp_h5(ncid, &nc, &grp, &h5)))
       return retval;
+   assert(nc && grp && h5);
 
 #ifdef USE_HDF4
    ishdf4 = h5->hdf4;
 #endif
 
-   /* Attempting to do any of these things on a netCDF-3 file produces
-    * an error. */
-   if (!h5)
-      return NC_ENOTNC4;
-
-   assert(nc && grp && h5);
-
    /* Find the var. */
    if (varid < 0 || varid >= grp->vars.nelems)
       return NC_ENOTVAR;
diff --git a/nc_test4/tst_vars2.c b/nc_test4/tst_vars2.c
index 82313f427..e7577e75c 100644
--- a/nc_test4/tst_vars2.c
+++ b/nc_test4/tst_vars2.c
@@ -751,7 +751,11 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
       /* Define the variable. */
       if (nc_def_var(ncid, VAR_NAME5, NC_INT, NDIMS5, dimids, &varid)) ERR;
 
-      /* This will fail due to bad chunk size. */
+      /* These will fail due to bad parameters. */
+      if (nc_def_var_chunking(ncid + MILLION, varid, NC_CHUNKED,
+                              chunksize) != NC_EBADID) ERR;
+      if (nc_def_var_chunking(ncid + TEST_VAL_42, varid, NC_CHUNKED,
+                              chunksize) != NC_EBADID) ERR;
       if (nc_def_var_chunking(ncid, varid, NC_CHUNKED, bad_chunksize) !=
           NC_EBADCHUNK) ERR;