diff --git a/spyderlib/utils/dochelpers.py b/spyderlib/utils/dochelpers.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/spyderlib/utils/dochelpers.py
+++ b/spyderlib/utils/dochelpers.py
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ def isdefined(obj, force_import=False, namespace=None):
         return False

     import __builtin__

     if base not in __builtin__.__dict__ and base not in namespace:

-        if force_import:

+        if force_import and base != 'setup':

             try:

                 module = __import__(base, globals(), namespace)

                 if base not in globals():

@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ def isdefined(obj, force_import=False, namespace=None):
             return False

     for attr in attr_list:

         if not hasattr(eval(base, namespace), attr):

-            if force_import:

+            if force_import and base != 'setup':

                 try:

                     __import__(base+'.'+attr, globals(), namespace)

                 except ImportError:
Object inspector/bugfix (workaround) -- utils.dochelpers.isdefined (force_import=True): do not import module if it's a setup module (may crash the introspection thread)