diff --git a/lib/vmpooler/aws_setup.rb b/lib/vmpooler/aws_setup.rb
index 90a0825..1beb3d0 100644
--- a/lib/vmpooler/aws_setup.rb
+++ b/lib/vmpooler/aws_setup.rb
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ module Vmpooler
       def self.setup_node_by_ssh(host, platform)
         @key_file = ENV['AWS_KEY_FILE_LOCATION']
         conn = check_ssh_accepting_connections(host, platform)
-        configure_host(host, platform, conn)
+        configure_host(host, platform, conn) if conn
       end
 
       # For an Amazon Linux AMI, the user name is ec2-user.
@@ -49,9 +49,18 @@ module Vmpooler
           netssh_jruby_workaround
           Net::SSH.start(host, user, keys: @key_file, timeout: 10)
         rescue Net::SSH::ConnectionTimeout, Errno::ECONNREFUSED => e
-          puts "Requested instances do not have sshd ready yet, try again: #{e}"
+          puts "Requested instances do not have sshd ready yet, try again for 300s: #{e}"
           sleep 1
           retry if (retries += 1) < 300
+        rescue Errno::EBADF => e
+          puts "Jruby error, try again for 30s: #{e}"
+          puts e.backtrace
+          sleep 1
+          retry if (retries += 1) < 30
+        rescue StandardError => e
+          puts "Other error, cancelling aws_setup for #{host}: #{e}"
+          puts e.backtrace
+          return nil
         end
       end