diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 342a67fb3c51162649b38361d83524cfd68bfd9f..6c140036c642b23b0ab0cda7519147772624433c 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ documents those changes that are of interest to users and admins.
  -- Modify security_2_2 test to function with release 0.3
  -- Fix broken rpm build when libslurm not already installed.
  -- New slurmd option -M to mlock() slurmd process into memory.
+ -- Fix node processing if state change requested via scontrol 
+    prior to initial node registration.
  
 * Changes in SLURM 0.3.0
 ========================
diff --git a/src/slurmctld/ping_nodes.c b/src/slurmctld/ping_nodes.c
index 53f526dc4396d44f919aa8ceca883ff8096cd92e..8ab7d3253638226babb85464c66f7734857f80e7 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/ping_nodes.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/ping_nodes.c
@@ -174,8 +174,10 @@ void ping_nodes (void)
 			continue;
 		}
 
-		if (node_ptr->last_response == (time_t)0)
+		if (node_ptr->last_response == (time_t)0) {
+			no_resp_flag = 1;
 			node_ptr->last_response = slurmctld_conf.last_update;
+		}
 
 		/* Request a node registration if its state is UNKNOWN or 
 		 * on a periodic basis (about every MAX_REG_FREQUENCY ping,