diff --git a/services/sync/locales/en-US/sync.properties b/services/sync/locales/en-US/sync.properties
index ba8ec37e9031..50b99b159af9 100644
--- a/services/sync/locales/en-US/sync.properties
+++ b/services/sync/locales/en-US/sync.properties
@@ -21,5 +21,7 @@ error.logout.title = Error While Signing Out
 error.logout.description = Weave encountered an error while signing you out.  It's probably ok, and you don't have to do anything about it.
 error.sync.title = Error While Syncing
 error.sync.description = Weave encountered an error while syncing: %1$S.  Weave will automatically retry this action.
+error.sync.no_node_found = The Weave server is a little busy right now, but you don't need to do anything about it.  We'll start syncing your data as soon as we can!
+error.sync.no_node_found.title = Sync Delay
 error.sync.tryAgainButton.label = Sync Now
 error.sync.tryAgainButton.accesskey = S
diff --git a/services/sync/modules/constants.js b/services/sync/modules/constants.js
index 0bdc298a7df9..0e7628802186 100644
--- a/services/sync/modules/constants.js
+++ b/services/sync/modules/constants.js
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ NO_KEYS_NO_KEYGEN:                     "error.sync.reason.no_keys_no_keygen",
 KEYS_UPLOAD_FAIL:                      "error.sync.reason.keys_upload_fail",
 SETUP_FAILED_NO_PASSPHRASE:            "error.sync.reason.setup_failed_no_passphrase",
 ABORT_SYNC_COMMAND:                    "aborting sync, process commands said so",
+NO_SYNC_NODE_FOUND:                    "error.sync.reason.no_node_found",
 
 // engine failure status codes
 ENGINE_UPLOAD_FAIL:                    "error.engine.reason.record_upload_fail",
diff --git a/services/sync/modules/service.js b/services/sync/modules/service.js
index ae39edb7f712..31b46a527f33 100644
--- a/services/sync/modules/service.js
+++ b/services/sync/modules/service.js
@@ -489,6 +489,8 @@ WeaveSvc.prototype = {
           return this.serverURL;
         case 0:
         case 200:
+          if (node == "null")
+            node = null;
           return node;
         default:
           this._log.debug("Unexpected response code: " + node.status);
@@ -505,6 +507,7 @@ WeaveSvc.prototype = {
   _setCluster: function _setCluster() {
     // Make sure we didn't get some unexpected response for the cluster
     let cluster = this._findCluster();
+    this._log.debug("cluster value = " + cluster);
     if (cluster == null)
       return false;
 
@@ -532,8 +535,13 @@ WeaveSvc.prototype = {
   _verifyLogin: function _verifyLogin()
     this._notify("verify-login", "", function() {
       // Make sure we have a cluster to verify against
-      if (this.clusterURL == "")
-        this._setCluster();
+      // this is a little weird, if we don't get a node we pretend 
+      // to succeed, since that probably means we just don't have storage
+      if (this.clusterURL == "" && !this._setCluster()) {
+        this.status.setSyncStatus(NO_SYNC_NODE_FOUND);
+        Svc.Observer.notifyObservers(null, "weave:service:sync:delayed", "");
+        return true;
+      }
 
       try {
         let test = new Resource(this.infoURL).get();
@@ -1074,6 +1082,14 @@ WeaveSvc.prototype = {
   sync: function sync()
     this._catch(this._lock(this._notify("sync", "", function() {
     this.status.resetEngineStatus();
+    
+    // if we don't have a node, get one.  if that fails, retry in 10 minutes
+    if (this.clusterURL == "" && !this._setCluster()) {
+      this._scheduleNextSync(10 * 60 * 1000);
+      return;
+    }
+
+    fullSync = true; // not doing thresholds yet
 
     // Make sure we should sync or record why we shouldn't
     let reason = this._checkSync();