diff --git a/orte/include/orte/constants.h b/orte/include/orte/constants.h
index 2f4267d670..1917c69097 100644
--- a/orte/include/orte/constants.h
+++ b/orte/include/orte/constants.h
@@ -98,7 +98,8 @@ enum {
     ORTE_ERR_FAILED_TO_START                = (ORTE_ERR_BASE - 26),
     ORTE_ERR_FILE_NOT_EXECUTABLE            = (ORTE_ERR_BASE - 27),
     ORTE_ERR_HNP_COULD_NOT_START            = (ORTE_ERR_BASE - 28),
-    ORTE_ERR_SYS_LIMITS_SOCKETS             = (ORTE_ERR_BASE - 29)
+    ORTE_ERR_SYS_LIMITS_SOCKETS             = (ORTE_ERR_BASE - 29),
+    ORTE_ERR_SOCKET_NOT_AVAILABLE           = (ORTE_ERR_BASE - 30)
 };
 
 #define ORTE_ERR_MAX                      (ORTE_ERR_BASE - 100)
diff --git a/orte/mca/ess/slurmd/ess_slurmd_module.c b/orte/mca/ess/slurmd/ess_slurmd_module.c
index 1bcf3dc7ab..328085eb57 100644
--- a/orte/mca/ess/slurmd/ess_slurmd_module.c
+++ b/orte/mca/ess/slurmd/ess_slurmd_module.c
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ orte_ess_base_module_t orte_ess_slurmd_module = {
 
 /* Local globals */
 static bool app_init_complete;
+static bool slurm20;
 
 /****    MODULE FUNCTIONS    ****/
 
@@ -108,6 +109,7 @@ static int rte_init(void)
     
     /* init flag */
     app_init_complete = false;
+    slurm20 = false;
     
     /* run the prolog */
     if (ORTE_SUCCESS != (ret = orte_ess_base_std_prolog())) {
@@ -171,6 +173,7 @@ static int rte_init(void)
          * picked up by the OOB
          */
         orte_oob_static_ports = strdup(envar);
+        slurm20 = true;
         OPAL_OUTPUT_VERBOSE((1, orte_ess_base_output,
                              "%s using SLURM-reserved ports %s",
                              ORTE_NAME_PRINT(ORTE_PROC_MY_NAME),
@@ -350,10 +353,14 @@ static int rte_init(void)
     return ORTE_SUCCESS;
     
 error:
+    if (ORTE_ERR_SOCKET_NOT_AVAILABLE == ret && slurm20) {
+        /* exit silently with a special error code for slurm 2.0 */
+        exit(108);
+    }
+    
     orte_show_help("help-orte-runtime.txt",
                    "orte_init:startup:internal-failure",
                    true, error, ORTE_ERROR_NAME(ret), ret);
-    
     return ret;
 }
 
diff --git a/orte/mca/oob/tcp/oob_tcp.c b/orte/mca/oob/tcp/oob_tcp.c
index aec3c8002b..67d9ca7625 100644
--- a/orte/mca/oob/tcp/oob_tcp.c
+++ b/orte/mca/oob/tcp/oob_tcp.c
@@ -797,7 +797,7 @@ mca_oob_tcp_create_listen(int *target_sd, unsigned short *target_port, uint16_t
     /* cleanup and return the error */
     CLOSE_THE_SOCKET(*target_sd);
     opal_argv_free(ports);
-    return ORTE_ERROR;
+    return ORTE_ERR_SOCKET_NOT_AVAILABLE;
 
 
 socket_binded: