--- a/modules/generators/mod_cgid.c	
+++ a/modules/generators/mod_cgid.c	
@@ -866,6 +866,8 @@ static int cgid_start(apr_pool_t *p, server_rec *main_server,
                       apr_proc_t *procnew)
 {
 
+    sleep(3);
+
     daemon_should_exit = 0; /* clear setting from previous generation */
     if ((daemon_pid = fork()) < 0) {
         ap_log_error(APLOG_MARK, APLOG_ERR, errno, main_server, APLOGNO(01253)
@@ -1203,18 +1205,26 @@ static int connect_to_daemon(int *sdptr, request_rec *r,
 {
     int sd;
     int connect_tries;
+    int connect_errno;
     apr_interval_time_t sliding_timer;
 
     connect_tries = 0;
     sliding_timer = 100000; /* 100 milliseconds */
     while (1) {
+        connect_errno = 0;
         ++connect_tries;
         if ((sd = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) < 0) {
             return log_scripterror(r, conf, HTTP_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, errno,
                                    APLOGNO(01255) "unable to create socket to cgi daemon");
         }
         if (connect(sd, (struct sockaddr *)server_addr, server_addr_len) < 0) {
-            if (errno == ECONNREFUSED && connect_tries < DEFAULT_CONNECT_ATTEMPTS) {
+            /* Save errno for later */
+            connect_errno = errno;
+            /* ECONNREFUSED means the listen queue is full; ENOENT means that
+             * the cgid server either hasn't started up yet, or we're pointing
+             * at the wrong socket file */
+            if ((errno == ECONNREFUSED || errno == ENOENT)
+                && connect_tries < DEFAULT_CONNECT_ATTEMPTS) {
                 ap_log_rerror(APLOG_MARK, APLOG_DEBUG, errno, r, APLOGNO(01256)
                               "connect #%d to cgi daemon failed, sleeping before retry",
                               connect_tries);
@@ -1235,11 +1245,21 @@ static int connect_to_daemon(int *sdptr, request_rec *r,
                                       close_unix_socket, apr_pool_cleanup_null);
             break; /* we got connected! */
         }
+
         /* gotta try again, but make sure the cgid daemon is still around */
-        if (kill(daemon_pid, 0) != 0) {
-            return log_scripterror(r, conf, HTTP_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE, errno, APLOGNO(01258)
+        if (connect_errno != ENOENT && kill(daemon_pid, 0) != 0) {
+            return log_scripterror(r, conf, HTTP_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE, connect_errno, APLOGNO(01258)
                                    "cgid daemon is gone; is Apache terminating?");
         }
+
+        /* If we didn't find the socket but we started the server long ago,
+         * chances are there's something wrong with the cgid daemon
+         * XXX: Hardcoded number alert */
+        if (connect_errno == ENOENT &&
+                apr_time_sec(apr_time_now() - ap_scoreboard_image->global->restart_time) > 60) {
+            return log_scripterror(r, conf, HTTP_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE, connect_errno, APLOGNO()
+                                   "the unix socket file is gone or was never created");
+        }
     }
     *sdptr = sd;
     return OK;