diff --git a/home.admin/40addHDD.sh b/home.admin/40addHDD.sh
index 86fef98..7bab856 100755
--- a/home.admin/40addHDD.sh
+++ b/home.admin/40addHDD.sh
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ if [ ${existsHDD} -gt 0 ]; then
           configFile="/mnt/hdd/raspiblitz.conf"
           configExists=$(sudo ls ${configFile} | grep -c 'raspiblitz.conf')
           if [ ${configExists} -eq 0 ]; then
+     
+            # create file and use init values from raspiblitz.info
             source /home/admin/_version.info
             sudo touch $configFile
             sudo chmod 777 ${configFile}
@@ -58,6 +60,17 @@ if [ ${existsHDD} -gt 0 ]; then
             echo "network=${network}" >> $configFile
             echo "chain=${chain}" >> $configFile
             echo "hostname=${hostname}" >> $configFile
+
+            # try to determine publicIP and if not possible use localIP as placeholder 
+            # https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz/issues/312#issuecomment-462675101
+            freshPublicIP=$(curl -s http://v4.ipv6-test.com/api/myip.php)
+            if [ ${#freshPublicIP} -eq 0 ]; then
+              localIP=$(ip addr | grep 'state UP' -A2 | tail -n1 | awk '{print $2}' | cut -f1 -d'/')
+              echo "WARNING: No publicIP information at all yet - working with placeholder : ${localIP}"
+              freshPublicIP="${localIP}"
+            fi
+            echo "publicIP=${freshPublicIP}" >> $configFile
+
           fi
 
           # move SSH pub keys to HDD so that they survive an update
diff --git a/home.admin/90finishSetup.sh b/home.admin/90finishSetup.sh
index 3309840..0843578 100755
--- a/home.admin/90finishSetup.sh
+++ b/home.admin/90finishSetup.sh
@@ -73,12 +73,6 @@ echo "enable lazy firewall"
 sudo ufw --force enable
 echo ""
 
-# set raspi config as environment for lnd service
-sudo systemctl stop lnd
-sudo systemctl disable lnd
-sudo sed -i "s/^EnvironmentFile=.*/EnvironmentFile=\/mnt\/hdd\/raspiblitz.conf/g" /etc/systemd/system/lnd.service
-sudo systemctl enable lnd
-
 # update system
 echo ""
 echo "*** Update System ***"
diff --git a/home.admin/_bootstrap.sh b/home.admin/_bootstrap.sh
index 2c29191..5f66be2 100644
--- a/home.admin/_bootstrap.sh
+++ b/home.admin/_bootstrap.sh
@@ -288,6 +288,15 @@ if [ ${configExists} -eq 1 ]; then
   # wait otherwise looking for publicIP fails
   sleep 5
   freshPublicIP=$(curl -s http://v4.ipv6-test.com/api/myip.php)
+  if [ ${#freshPublicIP} -eq 0 ]; then
+    # prevent having no publicIP set at all and LND getting stuck
+    # https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz/issues/312#issuecomment-462675101
+    if [ ${#publicIP} -eq 0 ]; then
+      localIP=$(ip addr | grep 'state UP' -A2 | tail -n1 | awk '{print $2}' | cut -f1 -d'/')
+      echo "WARNING: No publicIP information at all - working with placeholder: ${localIP}" >> $logFile
+      freshPublicIP="${localIP}"
+    fi
+  fi
   if [ ${#freshPublicIP} -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "WARNING: Was not able to determine external IP on startup." >> $logFile
   else
diff --git a/home.admin/assets/lnd.service b/home.admin/assets/lnd.service
index 79a40fd..d500893 100644
--- a/home.admin/assets/lnd.service
+++ b/home.admin/assets/lnd.service
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ After=bitcoind.service
 #OnFailure=systemd-sendmail@%n
 
 [Service]
-EnvironmentFile=
+EnvironmentFile=/mnt/hdd/raspiblitz.conf
 ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/lnd --externalip=${publicIP}
 PIDFile=/home/bitcoin/.lnd/lnd.pid
 User=bitcoin