diff --git a/lib/async.js b/lib/async.js
index 5aadbb88..fe96cd23 100644
--- a/lib/async.js
+++ b/lib/async.js
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ var caller = require('./caller.js');
 var nodeModulesPaths = require('./node-modules-paths.js');
 
 module.exports = function resolve (x, opts, cb) {
-    if (core[x]) return cb(null, x);
-    
     if (typeof opts === 'function') {
         cb = opts;
         opts = {};
@@ -42,6 +40,7 @@ module.exports = function resolve (x, opts, cb) {
     else loadNodeModules(x, y, function (err, n, pkg) {
         if (err) cb(err)
         else if (n) cb(null, n, pkg)
+        else if (core[x]) return cb(null, x);
         else cb(new Error("Cannot find module '" + x + "'"))
     });
     
diff --git a/lib/sync.js b/lib/sync.js
index a7219606..9daad946 100644
--- a/lib/sync.js
+++ b/lib/sync.js
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ var caller = require('./caller.js');
 var nodeModulesPaths = require('./node-modules-paths.js');
 
 module.exports = function (x, opts) {
-    if (core[x]) return x;
-    
     if (!opts) opts = {};
     var isFile = opts.isFile || function (file) {
         try { var stat = fs.statSync(file) }
@@ -29,6 +27,8 @@ module.exports = function (x, opts) {
         if (n) return n;
     }
     
+    if (core[x]) return x;
+
     throw new Error("Cannot find module '" + x + "'");
     
     function loadAsFileSync (x) {
diff --git a/test/resolver.js b/test/resolver.js
index 63c530ea..9ace416b 100644
--- a/test/resolver.js
+++ b/test/resolver.js
@@ -268,3 +268,13 @@ test('without basedir', function (t) {
     });
 });
 
+test('#25: node modules with the same name as node stdlib modules', function (t) {
+    t.plan(1);
+
+    var resolverDir = __dirname + '/resolver/punycode';
+
+    resolve('punycode', { basedir : resolverDir }, function (err, res, pkg) {
+        if (err) t.fail(err);
+        t.equal(res, resolverDir + '/node_modules/punycode/index.js');
+    });
+});
diff --git a/test/resolver/punycode/node_modules/punycode/index.js b/test/resolver/punycode/node_modules/punycode/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/test/resolver_sync.js b/test/resolver_sync.js
index 79168899..5f808f34 100644
--- a/test/resolver_sync.js
+++ b/test/resolver_sync.js
@@ -156,7 +156,6 @@ test('other path', function (t) {
     t.end();
 });
 
-
 test('incorrect main', function (t) {
     var resolverDir = __dirname + '/resolver';
     var dir = resolverDir + '/incorrect_main';
@@ -168,3 +167,14 @@ test('incorrect main', function (t) {
 
     t.end()
 });
+
+test('#25: node modules with the same name as node stdlib modules', function (t) {
+    var resolverDir = __dirname + '/resolver/punycode';
+
+    t.equal(
+        resolve.sync('punycode', { basedir : resolverDir }),
+        resolverDir + '/node_modules/punycode/index.js'
+    )
+
+    t.end()
+});