--- a/testing/marionette/client/marionette_driver/marionette.py
+++ b/testing/marionette/client/marionette_driver/marionette.py
@@ -658,34 +658,34 @@ class Marionette(object):
         """
         if timeout is None:
             timeout = self.DEFAULT_STARTUP_TIMEOUT
 
         runner = None
         if self.instance is not None:
             runner = self.instance.runner
 
-        poll_interval = 0.1
+        poll_interval = 1
         starttime = datetime.datetime.now()
 
         while datetime.datetime.now() - starttime < datetime.timedelta(seconds=timeout):
             # If the instance we want to connect to is not running return immediately
             if runner is not None and not runner.is_running():
                 return False
 
             sock = None
             try:
                 sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
                 sock.settimeout(0.5)
                 sock.connect((self.host, self.port))
                 data = sock.recv(16)
                 if ":" in data:
                     return True
-            except socket.error:
-                pass
+            except socket.error as e:
+                print >>sys.stderr, "Connection attempt to Marionette failed ({})".format(e)
             finally:
                 if sock is not None:
                     sock.close()
 
             time.sleep(poll_interval)
 
         return False