diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 532c5255..d621ceda 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 ## Unreleased
 
-Fix #715: Update `db_initialized?` to be based on database connection instead of file existence
-
 ## 11.1.9 - *2024-12-09*
 
 ## 11.1.8 - *2024-11-18*
@@ -663,7 +661,7 @@ Adding Ubuntu 13.04 to Platforminfo
 - **[COOK-2966] - Address foodcritic failures'
 - **[COOK-4182] - Template parse failure in /etc/init/mysql.conf (data_dir)'
 - **[COOK-4198] - Added missing tunable'
-- **[COOK-4206] - create `root@127.0.0.1`, as well as `root@localhost`'
+- **[COOK-4206] - create root@127.0.0.1, as well as root@localhost'
 
 ## [4.0.20] - 2014-01-18
 
diff --git a/libraries/helpers.rb b/libraries/helpers.rb
index 62852ddd..ad96fee6 100644
--- a/libraries/helpers.rb
+++ b/libraries/helpers.rb
@@ -257,21 +257,11 @@ def db_init
     end
 
     def db_initialized?
-      cmd = shell_out("test \"#{db_initialized_check_cmd}\" -gt 0", user: 'root')
-      cmd.exitstatus == 0
-    end
-
-    def db_initialized_check_cmd
-      # If MySQL is running, mysqladmin ping will return 0 even with invalid credentials
-      # if MySQL is not running, mysqladmin will return 1 even with valid credentials
-      cmd = mysqladmin_bin
-      cmd << ' --user=UNKNOWN_MYSQL_USER'
-      cmd << ' ping > /dev/null 2>&1 &&'
-      cmd << " #{mysql_client_bin} #{defaults_file}"
-      cmd << ' --skip-column-names  --batch'
-      cmd << " --execute=\"SELECT count(*) FROM mysql.db WHERE db LIKE 'test%'\""
-      return "scl enable #{scl_name} \"#{cmd}\"" if scl_package?
-      cmd
+      if v80plus
+        ::File.exist? "#{data_dir}/mysql.ibd"
+      else
+        ::File.exist? "#{data_dir}/mysql/user.frm"
+      end
     end
 
     def mysql_install_db_bin
@@ -289,12 +279,6 @@ def mysql_install_db_cmd
       cmd
     end
 
-    def mysql_client_bin
-      return "#{prefix_dir}/bin/mysql" if platform_family?('smartos')
-      return 'mysql' if scl_package?
-      "#{prefix_dir}/usr/bin/mysql"
-    end
-
     def mysqladmin_bin
       return "#{prefix_dir}/bin/mysqladmin" if platform_family?('smartos')
       return 'mysqladmin' if scl_package?