diff --git a/src/components/tabs/tabs.ts b/src/components/tabs/tabs.ts
index 0a94f4ff41..ca36c51cc0 100644
--- a/src/components/tabs/tabs.ts
+++ b/src/components/tabs/tabs.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { Ion } from '../ion';
 import { isBlank } from '../../util/util';
 import { NavController } from '../../navigation/nav-controller';
 import { NavControllerBase } from '../../navigation/nav-controller-base';
-import { NavOptions, DIRECTION_SWITCH } from '../../navigation/nav-util';
+import { getComponent, NavOptions, DIRECTION_SWITCH } from '../../navigation/nav-util';
 import { Platform } from '../../platform/platform';
 import { Tab } from './tab';
 import { TabHighlight } from './tab-highlight';
@@ -501,9 +501,9 @@ export class Tabs extends Ion implements AfterViewInit {
 
       } else if (tab.length() > 1) {
         // if we're a few pages deep, pop to root
-        tab.popToRoot(null, null);
+        tab.popToRoot();
 
-      } else if (tab.root !== active.component) {
+      } else if (getComponent(this._linker, tab.root) !== active.component) {
         // Otherwise, if the page we're on is not our real root, reset it to our
         // default root type
         tab.setRoot(tab.root);
diff --git a/src/navigation/nav-util.ts b/src/navigation/nav-util.ts
index da60007167..989f8b41e0 100644
--- a/src/navigation/nav-util.ts
+++ b/src/navigation/nav-util.ts
@@ -7,23 +7,25 @@ import { NavControllerBase } from './nav-controller-base';
 import { Transition } from '../transitions/transition';
 
 
+export function getComponent(linker: DeepLinker, nameOrPageOrView: any): any {
+  if (typeof nameOrPageOrView === 'function') {
+    return nameOrPageOrView;
+  }
+  if (typeof nameOrPageOrView === 'string') {
+    return linker.getComponentFromName(nameOrPageOrView);
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
 export function convertToView(linker: DeepLinker, nameOrPageOrView: any, params: any): ViewController {
   if (nameOrPageOrView) {
     if (isViewController(nameOrPageOrView)) {
       // is already a ViewController
       return nameOrPageOrView;
     }
-    if (typeof nameOrPageOrView === 'function') {
-      // is a page component, now turn it into a ViewController
-      return new ViewController(nameOrPageOrView, params);
-    }
-    if (typeof nameOrPageOrView === 'string') {
-      // is a string, see if it matches a
-      const component = linker.getComponentFromName(nameOrPageOrView);
-      if (component) {
-        // found a page component in the link config by name
-        return new ViewController(component, params);
-      }
+    let component = getComponent(linker, nameOrPageOrView);
+    if (component) {
+      return new ViewController(component, params);
     }
   }
   console.error(`invalid page component: ${nameOrPageOrView}`);
@@ -77,17 +79,17 @@ export function setZIndex(nav: NavControllerBase, enteringView: ViewController,
   }
 }
 
-export function isTabs(nav: any) {
+export function isTabs(nav: any): boolean {
   // Tabs (ion-tabs)
   return !!nav && !!nav.getSelected;
 }
 
-export function isTab(nav: any) {
+export function isTab(nav: any): boolean {
   // Tab (ion-tab)
   return !!nav && isPresent(nav._tabId);
 }
 
-export function isNav(nav: any) {
+export function isNav(nav: any): boolean {
   // Nav (ion-nav), Tab (ion-tab), Portal (ion-portal)
   return !!nav && !!nav.push;
 }