diff --git a/agent/src/com/cloud/agent/Agent.java b/agent/src/com/cloud/agent/Agent.java
index e3510c41c32..f39d0e78961 100644
--- a/agent/src/com/cloud/agent/Agent.java
+++ b/agent/src/com/cloud/agent/Agent.java
@@ -394,15 +394,17 @@ public class Agent implements HandlerFactory, IAgentControl {
         } while (inProgress > 0);
 
         _connection.stop();
-        while (_connection.isStartup()) {
-            _shell.getBackoffAlgorithm().waitBeforeRetry();
-        }
 
         try {
             _connection.cleanUp();
         } catch (final IOException e) {
             s_logger.warn("Fail to clean up old connection. " + e);
         }
+
+        while (_connection.isStartup()) {
+            _shell.getBackoffAlgorithm().waitBeforeRetry();
+        }
+
         _connection = new NioClient("Agent", _shell.getHost(), _shell.getPort(), _shell.getWorkers(), this);
         do {
             s_logger.info("Reconnecting...");
diff --git a/utils/src/main/java/com/cloud/utils/nio/NioConnection.java b/utils/src/main/java/com/cloud/utils/nio/NioConnection.java
index ddc84cf18c8..249f512d9c9 100644
--- a/utils/src/main/java/com/cloud/utils/nio/NioConnection.java
+++ b/utils/src/main/java/com/cloud/utils/nio/NioConnection.java
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ public abstract class NioConnection implements Callable<Boolean> {
             init();
         } catch (final ConnectException e) {
             s_logger.warn("Unable to connect to remote: is there a server running on port " + _port);
+            return;
         } catch (final IOException e) {
             s_logger.error("Unable to initialize the threads.", e);
             throw new NioConnectionException(e.getMessage(), e);