diff --git a/test/bigint.jl b/test/bigint.jl
index 999b0c42cf6dd..0478b28f8b286 100644
--- a/test/bigint.jl
+++ b/test/bigint.jl
@@ -278,7 +278,11 @@ ndigits_mismatch(n) = ndigits(n) != ndigits(BigInt(n))
 ndigits(rand(big(-999:999)), rand(63:typemax(Int)))
 ndigits(rand(big(-999:999)), big(2)^rand(2:999))
 
-@test_throws DomainError ndigits(rand(big(-999:999)), rand(typemin(Int):1))
+for i in big([-20:-1;1:20])
+    for b in -10:1
+        @test_throws DomainError ndigits(i, b)
+    end
+end
 
 # conversion from float
 @test BigInt(2.0) == BigInt(2.0f0) == BigInt(big(2.0)) == 2