diff --git a/libs/ardour/session.cc b/libs/ardour/session.cc
index 6f0638bdc9..e89808e818 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/session.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/session.cc
@@ -326,6 +326,16 @@ Session::Session (AudioEngine &eng,
 	EndTimeChanged.connect_same_thread (*this, boost::bind (&Session::end_time_changed, this, _1));
 
 	_is_new = false;
+
+	/* hook us up to the engine since we are now completely constructed */
+
+	BootMessage (_("Connect to engine"));
+
+	_engine.set_session (this);
+	_engine.reset_timebase ();
+
+	BootMessage (_("Session loading complete"));
+
 }
 
 Session::~Session ()
@@ -727,12 +737,6 @@ Session::when_engine_running ()
 
         initialize_latencies ();
 
-	/* hook us up to the engine */
-
-	BootMessage (_("Connect to engine"));
-	_engine.set_session (this);
-	_engine.reset_timebase ();
-
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/libs/ardour/session_state.cc b/libs/ardour/session_state.cc
index dbb2d4edcd..d90346073c 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/session_state.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/session_state.cc
@@ -308,8 +308,6 @@ Session::post_engine_init ()
 
 	_state_of_the_state = Clean;
 
-	Port::set_connecting_blocked (false);
-
 	DirtyChanged (); /* EMIT SIGNAL */
 
 	if (_is_new) {
@@ -320,8 +318,6 @@ Session::post_engine_init ()
 		state_was_pending = false;
 	}
 
-	BootMessage (_("Session loading complete"));
-
 	return 0;
 }