diff --git a/ChangeLog.txt b/ChangeLog.txt
index d5b2da49c1..67895ba05e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.txt
+++ b/ChangeLog.txt
@@ -10,6 +10,11 @@
      * Change, ! Fix, % Optimization, + Addition, - Removal, ; Comment
  */
 
+2017-05-12 22:17 UTC+0200 Przemyslaw Czerpak (druzus/at/poczta.onet.pl)
+  * contrib/hbwin/olecore.c
+    ! do not use SafeArrayGetVartype() with some chosen builds C compilers
+      which do not support it
+
 2017-05-12 21:18 UTC+0200 Przemyslaw Czerpak (druzus/at/poczta.onet.pl)
   * contrib/hbwin/olecore.c
     * changed tagVARIANT member used in hack extracting variant value
diff --git a/contrib/hbwin/olecore.c b/contrib/hbwin/olecore.c
index 5f6c2338d3..d794c74576 100644
--- a/contrib/hbwin/olecore.c
+++ b/contrib/hbwin/olecore.c
@@ -66,6 +66,12 @@
    #define HB_OLE_NO_LLREF
 #endif
 
+#if ! defined( HB_OLE_NO_SAFEARRAYGETVARTYPE ) && \
+    ( defined( __DMC__ ) || \
+      defined(  __MINGW32CE__ ) || \
+      ( defined( __WATCOMC__ ) && ( __WATCOMC__ < 1270 ) ) )
+   #define HB_OLE_NO_SAFEARRAYGETVARTYPE
+#endif
 
 /* base date value in OLE (1899-12-30) as julian day */
 #define HB_OLE_DATE_BASE  0x0024D9AB
@@ -758,10 +764,12 @@ static SAFEARRAY * hb_oleSafeArrayFromItem( PHB_ITEM pItem, VARTYPE vt )
 static HB_BOOL hb_oleSafeArrayToString( PHB_ITEM pItem, SAFEARRAY * pSafeArray )
 {
    long lFrom, lTo;
-   VARTYPE vt;
+   VARTYPE vt = VT_UI1;
 
    if( SafeArrayGetElemsize( pSafeArray ) == 1 &&
+#if ! defined( HB_OLE_NO_SAFEARRAYGETVARTYPE )
        SafeArrayGetVartype( pSafeArray, &vt ) == S_OK &&
+#endif
        ( vt == VT_I1 || vt == VT_UI1 ) &&
        SafeArrayGetLBound( pSafeArray, 1, &lFrom ) == S_OK &&
        SafeArrayGetUBound( pSafeArray, 1, &lTo ) == S_OK &&