diff --git a/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/cloud/compute/vultr/VultrDriver.java b/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/cloud/compute/vultr/VultrDriver.java
index 4d6a23b9..c09d98b5 100644
--- a/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/cloud/compute/vultr/VultrDriver.java
+++ b/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/cloud/compute/vultr/VultrDriver.java
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ public class VultrDriver extends ComputeServiceDriverBase {
         return snapshot == null ? die("initSnapshotOsId: no snapshot OS found") : snapshot.getId().intValue();
     }
 
+    public static final long SERVER_START_INITIAL_INTERVAL = SECONDS.toMillis(30);
     public static final long SERVER_START_POLL_INTERVAL = SECONDS.toMillis(5);
     public static final long SERVER_START_TIMEOUT = MINUTES.toMillis(10);
     public static final long SERVER_STOP_TIMEOUT = SECONDS.toMillis(60);
@@ -157,6 +158,7 @@ public class VultrDriver extends ComputeServiceDriverBase {
         final long start = now();
         boolean startedOk = false;
         final HttpRequestBean poll = auth(new HttpRequestBean(POLL_SERVER_URL+subId));
+        sleep(SERVER_START_INITIAL_INTERVAL);
         while (now() - start < SERVER_START_TIMEOUT) {
             sleep(SERVER_START_POLL_INTERVAL);
             final HttpResponseBean pollResponse = getResponse(poll);
@@ -173,7 +175,7 @@ public class VultrDriver extends ComputeServiceDriverBase {
                         && serverNode.has(VULTR_V4_IP)) {
 
                     final String serverState = serverNode.get("server_state").textValue();
-                    if (serverState.equals("none") || serverState.equals("locked")) continue;
+                    if (!serverState.equals("ok")) continue;
 
                     final String status = serverNode.get("status").textValue();
                     final String ip4 = serverNode.get(VULTR_V4_IP).textValue();
diff --git a/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/service/cloud/StandardNetworkService.java b/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/service/cloud/StandardNetworkService.java
index 4c79999a..f05509bc 100644
--- a/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/service/cloud/StandardNetworkService.java
+++ b/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/service/cloud/StandardNetworkService.java
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ public class StandardNetworkService implements NetworkService {
                     final CommandResult result = ansibleSetup(script, progressMeter);
                     // .... wait for ansible ...
                     if (!result.isZeroExitStatus()) {
-                        if (result.getStderr().contains("Connection timed out")) {
+                        if (result.getStderr().contains("Connection timed out") || result.getStderr().contains("SSH connection timeout")) {
                             log.warn("newNode: SSH connection timeout");
                             continue;
                         }