diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 7549cf529c268f64c492ec8c501d57e4405061e4..e308b142ff83f19a377e07b618fdbf5fae911014 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ minerva (17.0.0~beta.3) unstable; urgency=medium
   * Bug fix: Sign up is visible everywhere in minerva where user can login.
     When signup is visible request an account is invisible (#1635)
   * Bug fix: (regression) cache refresh did not work in production (#1989)
+  * Bug fix: (regression) pending create project jobs were blocking start of
+    minerva application (#1986)
   * Bug fix: (regression) uploading project produces a lot of errors like:
     Problem with checking property: 
     private final byte java.lang.String.coder (#1983)
@@ -21,7 +23,7 @@ minerva (17.0.0~beta.3) unstable; urgency=medium
     add overlay button (#1990)
   * Bug fix: invalid columns were marked as sortable in user list panel (#1993)
 
- -- Piotr Gawron <piotr.gawron@uni.lu>  Tue, 13 Feb 2024 11:00:00 +0200
+ -- Piotr Gawron <piotr.gawron@uni.lu>  Thu, 15 Feb 2024 15:00:00 +0200
 
 minerva (17.0.0~beta.2) unstable; urgency=medium
   * Bug fix (regression): minerva was very slow in production due to cache
diff --git a/web/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/web/bean/utils/StartupBean.java b/web/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/web/bean/utils/StartupBean.java
index 245c104c8f5a076d2b6bcbae555c91c2f52b3180..7b251e893b3541ee3bd76a0af94a7648b09d00a5 100644
--- a/web/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/web/bean/utils/StartupBean.java
+++ b/web/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/web/bean/utils/StartupBean.java
@@ -168,7 +168,8 @@ public class StartupBean {
       for (Project project : projectService.getAllProjects()) {
         if (!ProjectStatus.DONE.equals(project.getStatus())
             && !ProjectStatus.ARCHIVED.equals(project.getStatus())
-            && !ProjectStatus.FAIL.equals(project.getStatus())) {
+            && !ProjectStatus.FAIL.equals(project.getStatus())
+            && !ProjectStatus.UNKNOWN.equals(project.getStatus())) {
           project = projectService.getProjectByProjectId(project.getProjectId(), true);
           ProjectLogEntry entry = new ProjectLogEntry();
           entry.setSeverity("ERROR");