diff --git a/GUI/MainModList.cs b/GUI/MainModList.cs
index 8814fabc28..0a88b14aca 100644
--- a/GUI/MainModList.cs
+++ b/GUI/MainModList.cs
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ private IEnumerable<DataGridViewRow> Sort<T>(IEnumerable<DataGridViewRow> rows,
         /// </summary>
         private string DefaultSorter(DataGridViewRow row)
         {
-                return row.Cells[this.configuration.SortByColumnIndex].Value.ToString();
+            // changed so that it never returns null
+            var cellVal = row.Cells[configuration.SortByColumnIndex].Value as string;
+            return string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(cellVal) ? string.Empty : cellVal;
         }
 
         /// <summary>
@@ -135,12 +137,11 @@ private void _UpdateFilters()
             }
         }
 
-        private void UpdateModsList(Boolean repo_updated = false)
+        public void UpdateModsList(Boolean repo_updated = false)
         {
             Util.Invoke(this, () => _UpdateModsList(repo_updated));
         }
 
-
         private void _UpdateModsList(bool repo_updated)
         {
             log.Debug("Updating the mod list");
diff --git a/Tests/GUI/GH1866.cs b/Tests/GUI/GH1866.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d36afe121e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/GUI/GH1866.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.ComponentModel;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Windows.Forms;
+using CKAN;
+using NUnit.Framework;
+using Tests.Core;
+using Tests.Data;
+using ModuleInstaller = CKAN.ModuleInstaller;
+
+namespace Tests.GUI
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// This test attempts to reproduce the state of GitHub issue #1866
+    /// which involves sorting the GUI table by Max KSP Version and then performing a repo operation.
+    /// </summary>
+    [Explicit]
+    [TestFixture]
+    public class GH1866
+    {
+        private CkanModule _anyVersionModule;
+        private DisposableKSP _instance;
+        private KSPManager _manager;
+        private Registry _registry;
+        private MainModList _modList;
+        private MainModListGUI _listGui;
+
+
+        /*
+         * an exception would be thrown at the bottom of this
+         */
+        /*var main = new Main(null, new GUIUser(), false);
+        main.Manager = _manager;
+        // first sort by name
+        main.configuration.SortByColumnIndex = 2;
+        // now sort by version
+        main.configuration.SortByColumnIndex = 6;
+        main.MarkModForInstall("kOS");
+
+        // make sure we have one requested change
+        var changeList = main.mainModList.ComputeUserChangeSet()
+            .Select((change) => change.Mod.ToCkanModule()).ToList();
+
+        // do the install
+        ModuleInstaller.GetInstance(_instance.KSP, main.currentUser).InstallList(
+            changeList,
+            new RelationshipResolverOptions(),
+            new NetAsyncModulesDownloader(main.currentUser)
+        );*/
+
+        [TestFixtureSetUp]
+        public void Up()
+        {
+            _instance = new DisposableKSP();
+            _registry = Registry.Empty();
+            _manager = new KSPManager(new NullUser(), new FakeWin32Registry(_instance.KSP));
+
+            // this module contains a ksp_version of "any" which repros our issue
+            _anyVersionModule = TestData.DogeCoinFlag_101_module();
+
+            // install it and set it as pre-installed
+            _instance.KSP.Cache.Store(TestData.DogeCoinFlag_101_module().download, TestData.DogeCoinFlagZip());
+            _registry.RegisterModule(_anyVersionModule, new string[] { }, _instance.KSP);
+            _registry.AddAvailable(_anyVersionModule);
+
+            ModuleInstaller.GetInstance(_instance.KSP, _manager.User).InstallList(
+                new List<CkanModule> { { _anyVersionModule } },
+                new RelationshipResolverOptions(),
+                new NetAsyncModulesDownloader(_manager.User)
+            );
+
+            // this module is not for "any" version, to provide another to sort against
+            _registry.AddAvailable(TestData.kOS_014_module());
+
+            // test object
+            _modList = new MainModList(delegate { }, delegate { return null; });
+            _listGui = new MainModListGUI();
+
+            // todo: refactor the column header code to allow mocking of the GUI without creating columns
+            _listGui.Columns.Add(new DataGridViewCheckBoxColumn());
+            _listGui.Columns.Add(new DataGridViewCheckBoxColumn());
+            for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
+            {
+                _listGui.Columns.Add(i.ToString(), "Column" + i);
+            }
+        }
+
+        [TestFixtureTearDown]
+        public void Down()
+        {
+            _instance.Dispose();
+        }
+
+        [Test]
+        public void Sanity()
+        {
+            Assert.IsNotNull(_instance.KSP);
+            Assert.IsNotNull(_manager);
+            Assert.IsNotNull(_modList);
+        }
+
+        [Test]
+        public void TestSimple()
+        {
+            var modules = _registry.available_modules
+                .Select((mod) => new GUIMod(mod.Value.Latest(), _registry, _instance.KSP.Version()))
+                .ToList();
+
+            // varargs method signature means we must call .ToArray()
+            _listGui.Rows.AddRange(_modList.ConstructModList(modules).ToArray());
+            Assert.AreEqual(3, _listGui.Rows.Count);
+
+            // sort by version, this is the fuse-lighting
+            _listGui.Sort(_listGui.Columns[6], ListSortDirection.Descending);
+
+            var anyVersionModule = modules.First((mod) => mod.Identifier.Contains("Doge"));
+            var anyVersionRow = _listGui.Rows
+                .Cast<DataGridViewRow>()
+                .First((mod) => mod.Tag.Equals(anyVersionModule));
+            anyVersionModule.SetInstallChecked(anyVersionRow, true);
+            Assert.IsTrue(anyVersionModule.IsInstallChecked);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/Tests/NetKAN/JenkinsTests.cs b/Tests/NetKAN/JenkinsTests.cs
deleted file mode 100644
index 04012c231f..0000000000
--- a/Tests/NetKAN/JenkinsTests.cs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-using NUnit.Framework;
-
-namespace Tests.NetKAN
-{
-    [TestFixture]
-    public class JenkinsAPITests
-    {
-        [Test]
-        public void Inflate()
-        {
-        }
-    }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Tests/Tests.csproj b/Tests/Tests.csproj
index 4861aaad7b..2f92acea33 100644
--- a/Tests/Tests.csproj
+++ b/Tests/Tests.csproj
@@ -142,13 +142,13 @@
     <Compile Include="Data\TestData.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Data\ZipLib.cs" />
     <Compile Include="GUI\Configuration.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="GUI\GH1866.cs" />
     <Compile Include="GUI\GUIMod.cs" />
     <Compile Include="GUI\MainModList.cs" />
     <Compile Include="GUI\NavigationHistoryTests.cs" />
     <Compile Include="NetKAN\AVC.cs" />
     <Compile Include="NetKAN\Extensions\JObjectExtensionsTests.cs" />
     <Compile Include="NetKAN\Extensions\VersionExtensionsTests.cs" />
-    <Compile Include="NetKAN\JenkinsTests.cs" />
     <Compile Include="NetKAN\SDMod.cs" />
     <Compile Include="NetKAN\MainClass.cs" />
     <Compile Include="NetKAN\NetkanOverride.cs" />