diff --git a/electron/main.js b/electron/main.js
index 84896d4e..14832ca5 100644
--- a/electron/main.js
+++ b/electron/main.js
@@ -5,24 +5,16 @@ const path = require('path');
 const startIpfs = require('./start-ipfs');
 const startPlebbitRpcServer = require('./start-plebbit-rpc');
 const { URL } = require('node:url');
-const tcpPortUsed = require('tcp-port-used');
 
-// retry starting ipfs every 10 second,
-// in case it was started by another client that shut down and shut down ipfs with it
 let startIpfsError;
-setInterval(async () => {
-  try {
-    const started = await tcpPortUsed.check(5001, '127.0.0.1');
-    if (started) {
-      return;
-    }
-    await startIpfs();
-  } catch (e) {
-    console.log(e);
-    startIpfsError = e;
-    dialog.showErrorBox('IPFS error', startIpfsError.message);
+startIpfs.onError = (error) => {
+  // only show error once or it spams the user
+  const alreadyShownIpfsError = !!startIpfsError;
+  startIpfsError = error;
+  if (!alreadyShownIpfsError) {
+    dialog.showErrorBox('IPFS warning', error.message);
   }
-}, 10000);
+};
 
 // use common user agent instead of electron so img, video, audio, iframe elements don't get blocked
 // https://www.whatismybrowser.com/guides/the-latest-version/chrome
@@ -138,7 +130,7 @@ const createMainWindow = () => {
     }
 
     if (startIpfsError) {
-      dialog.showErrorBox('IPFS error', startIpfsError.message);
+      dialog.showErrorBox('IPFS warning', startIpfsError.message);
     }
   });
 
diff --git a/electron/start-ipfs.js b/electron/start-ipfs.js
index 5405ccf9..97864f35 100644
--- a/electron/start-ipfs.js
+++ b/electron/start-ipfs.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ const fs = require('fs-extra');
 const envPaths = require('env-paths').default('plebbit', { suffix: false });
 const ps = require('node:process');
 const proxyServer = require('./proxy-server');
+const tcpPortUsed = require('tcp-port-used');
 
 // use this custom function instead of spawnSync for better logging
 // also spawnSync might have been causing crash on start on windows
@@ -98,4 +99,31 @@ const startIpfs = async () => {
   });
 };
 
-module.exports = startIpfs;
+let pendingStart = false;
+const start = async () => {
+  if (pendingStart) {
+    return;
+  }
+  pendingStart = true;
+  try {
+    const started = await tcpPortUsed.check(5001, '127.0.0.1');
+    if (started) {
+      return;
+    }
+    await startIpfs();
+  } catch (e) {
+    console.log('failed starting ipfs', e);
+    try {
+      // try to run exported onError callback, can be undefined
+      module.exports.onError(e)?.catch?.(console.log);
+    } catch (e) {}
+  }
+  pendingStart = false;
+};
+
+// retry starting ipfs every 1 second,
+// in case it was started by another client that shut down and shut down ipfs with it
+start();
+setInterval(() => {
+  start();
+}, 1000);