Same problem here. But in my case the same configuration does start up when I just retry it a second time.
Some more info on my specific configuration : Environment : linux, cassandra 2.0.4, 3 node, embedded, byte ordered, LCS When I add a node to the existing 3 node cluster I sometimes get the exception 'Unable to gossip with any seeds ' listed below. If I just restart it without any change then mostly it works. Must be some timing issue. The Cassandra at that time is configured using the Cassandra.yaml file with the auto_bootstrap set true and the initial_token set to something like : 00f35256, 041e692a, 0562d8b2, 0930274a, 0b16ce96, 0c5b3e1e, 10cac47a, 12b16bc6, 13f5db4e, 186561aa, 1907996e, 1c32b042, 1e19578e ...... The two seeds configured in this yaml are 10.164.8.250 and 10.164.8.249 and these are up and running. The new node to add has ip 10.164.8.93 At the time of the exception, I do not get the gossip message 'Handshaking version with /10.164.8.93' on the seeds. If the exception does not occurs, then I do get that gossip message 'Handshaking version with /10.164.8.93' on the seed 2014-01-31 13:40:36.380 Loading persisted ring state 2014-01-31 13:40:36.386 Starting Messaging Service on port 9804 2014-01-31 13:40:36.408 Handshaking version with /10.164.8.250 2014-01-31 13:40:36.408 Handshaking version with /10.164.8.249 2014-01-31 13:41:07.415 Exception encountered during startup java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to gossip with any seeds at org.apache.cassandra.gms.Gossiper.doShadowRound(Gossiper.java:1160) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.checkForEndpointCollision(StorageService.java:426) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.joinTokenRing(StorageService.java:618) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.initServer(StorageService.java:586) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.initServer(StorageService.java:485) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at org.apache.cassandra.service.CassandraDaemon.setup(CassandraDaemon.java:346) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at org.apache.cassandra.service.CassandraDaemon.activate(CassandraDaemon.java:461) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at be.landc.services.search.server.db.baseserver.indexsearch.store.cassandra.CassandraStore$CassThread.startUpCassandra(CassandraStore.java:469) [landc-services-search-1.2.0-SNAPSHOT.jar:1.2.0-SNAPSHOT-87937] at be.landc.services.search.server.db.baseserver.indexsearch.store.cassandra.CassandraStore$CassThread.run(CassandraStore.java:460) [landc-services-search-1.2.0-SNAPSHOT.jar:1.2.0-SNAPSHOT-87937] java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to gossip with any seeds at org.apache.cassandra.gms.Gossiper.doShadowRound(Gossiper.java:1160) at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.checkForEndpointCollision(StorageService.java:426) at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.joinTokenRing(StorageService.java:618) at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.initServer(StorageService.java:586) at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.initServer(StorageService.java:485) at org.apache.cassandra.service.CassandraDaemon.setup(CassandraDaemon.java:346) at org.apache.cassandra.service.CassandraDaemon.activate(CassandraDaemon.java:461) at be.landc.services.search.server.db.baseserver.indexsearch.store.cassandra.CassandraStore$CassThread.startUpCassandra(CassandraStore.java:469) at be.landc.services.search.server.db.baseserver.indexsearch.store.cassandra.CassandraStore$CassThread.run(CassandraStore.java:460) Exception encountered during startup: Unable to gossip with any seeds 2014-01-31 13:41:07.419 Exception in thread Thread[StorageServiceShutdownHook,5,main] java.lang.NullPointerException: null at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.stopNativeTransport(StorageService.java:349) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.shutdownClientServers(StorageService.java:364) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.access$3(StorageService.java:361) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService$1.runMayThrow(StorageService.java:551) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at org.apache.cassandra.utils.WrappedRunnable.run(WrappedRunnable.java:28) ~[apache-cassandra-2.0.4-SNAPSHOT.jar:2.0.4-SNAPSHOT] at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:724) ~[na:1.7.0_40] 2014-01-31 13:41:07.421 Shutdown server request