diff --git a/airtime_mvc/application/configs/airtime-conf-production.php b/airtime_mvc/application/configs/airtime-conf-production.php
index 785b729c9..c880f6342 100644
--- a/airtime_mvc/application/configs/airtime-conf-production.php
+++ b/airtime_mvc/application/configs/airtime-conf-production.php
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@
  * that the user can customize these.
  */
 
-require_once (__DIR__."/conf.php");
-
 global $CC_CONFIG;
 
 $dbhost = $CC_CONFIG['dsn']['hostspec'];
diff --git a/airtime_mvc/application/configs/db-conf.php b/airtime_mvc/application/configs/db-conf.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..493d8e9b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/airtime_mvc/application/configs/db-conf.php
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<?php
+
+/* This file is only needed during upgrades when we need the database parameters from /etc/airtime/airtime.conf.
+ * The reason we don't just use conf.php is because conf.php may try to load configuration parameters that aren't
+ * yet available because airtime.conf hasn't been updated yet. This situation ends up throwing a lot of errors to stdout.
+ * airtime*/
+
+global $CC_CONFIG;
+
+$filename = "/etc/airtime/airtime.conf";
+$values = parse_ini_file($filename, true);
+
+// Database config
+$CC_CONFIG['dsn']['username'] = $values['database']['dbuser'];
+$CC_CONFIG['dsn']['password'] = $values['database']['dbpass'];
+$CC_CONFIG['dsn']['hostspec'] = $values['database']['host'];
+$CC_CONFIG['dsn']['phptype'] = 'pgsql';
+$CC_CONFIG['dsn']['database'] = $values['database']['dbname'];
diff --git a/install_minimal/include/airtime-installed-check.php b/install_minimal/include/airtime-installed-check.php
index f398105b2..ce8cc6ed9 100644
--- a/install_minimal/include/airtime-installed-check.php
+++ b/install_minimal/include/airtime-installed-check.php
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ require_once(__DIR__.'/airtime-constants.php');
 
 AirtimeInstall::ExitIfNotRoot();
 
-require_once(AirtimeInstall::GetAirtimeSrcDir()."/application/configs/conf.php");
+require_once(AirtimeInstall::GetAirtimeSrcDir()."/application/configs/db-conf.php");
 require_once('propel/runtime/lib/Propel.php');
 Propel::init(AirtimeInstall::GetAirtimeSrcDir()."/application/configs/airtime-conf-production.php");
 
diff --git a/install_minimal/include/airtime-upgrade.php b/install_minimal/include/airtime-upgrade.php
index 26adcacc4..6eef3441c 100644
--- a/install_minimal/include/airtime-upgrade.php
+++ b/install_minimal/include/airtime-upgrade.php
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ require_once(__DIR__.'/airtime-constants.php');
 require_once(__DIR__.'/AirtimeIni.php');
 require_once(__DIR__.'/AirtimeInstall.php');
 require_once 'propel/runtime/lib/Propel.php';
+Propel::init(AirtimeInstall::GetAirtimeSrcDir()."/application/configs/db-conf.php");
 Propel::init(AirtimeInstall::GetAirtimeSrcDir()."/application/configs/airtime-conf-production.php");
 
 
@@ -106,9 +107,6 @@ if (strcmp($version, "2.1.0") < 0){
 $sql = "DELETE FROM cc_pref WHERE keystr = 'system_version'";
 $con->exec($sql);
 
-$values = parse_ini_file(CONF_FILE_AIRTIME, true);
-$phpDir = $values['general']['airtime_dir'];
-
 $newVersion = AIRTIME_VERSION;
 $sql = "INSERT INTO cc_pref (keystr, valstr) VALUES ('system_version', '$newVersion')";
 $con->exec($sql);