diff --git a/waflib/Node.py b/waflib/Node.py
index bbd6c587..2f79bfea 100644
--- a/waflib/Node.py
+++ b/waflib/Node.py
@@ -282,6 +282,12 @@ class Node(object):
 
 		ret = cur
 
+		try:
+			os.stat(ret.abspath())
+		except:
+			del ret.parent.children[ret.name]
+			return None
+
 		try:
 			while not getattr(cur.parent, 'cache_isdir', None):
 				cur = cur.parent
@@ -688,9 +694,7 @@ class Node(object):
 		node = self.get_bld().search(lst)
 		if not node:
 			self = self.get_src()
-			node = self.search(lst)
-			if not node:
-				node = self.find_node(lst)
+			node = self.find_node(lst)
 		try:
 			pat = node.abspath()
 			if os.path.isdir(pat):
diff --git a/waflib/TaskGen.py b/waflib/TaskGen.py
index 95cb3204..3744ee06 100644
--- a/waflib/TaskGen.py
+++ b/waflib/TaskGen.py
@@ -505,10 +505,10 @@ def to_nodes(self, lst, path=None):
 	for x in Utils.to_list(lst):
 		if isinstance(x, str):
 			node = find(x)
-			if not node:
-				raise Errors.WafError("source not found: %r in %r" % (x, self))
 		else:
 			node = x
+		if not node:
+			raise Errors.WafError("source not found: %r in %r" % (x, self))
 		tmp.append(node)
 	return tmp