diff --git a/app/logging.js b/app/logging.js
index ba4f98231..7897b2879 100644
--- a/app/logging.js
+++ b/app/logging.js
@@ -104,21 +104,31 @@ async function deleteAllLogs(logPath) {
   });
 }
 
-function cleanupLogs(logPath) {
+async function cleanupLogs(logPath) {
   const now = new Date();
   const earliestDate = new Date(
     Date.UTC(now.getUTCFullYear(), now.getUTCMonth(), now.getUTCDate() - 3)
   );
 
-  return eliminateOutOfDateFiles(logPath, earliestDate).then(remaining => {
+  try {
+    const remaining = await eliminateOutOfDateFiles(logPath, earliestDate);
     const files = _.filter(remaining, file => !file.start && file.end);
 
     if (!files.length) {
-      return null;
+      return;
     }
 
-    return eliminateOldEntries(files, earliestDate);
-  });
+    await eliminateOldEntries(files, earliestDate);
+  } catch (error) {
+    console.error(
+      'Error cleaning logs; deleting and starting over from scratch.',
+      error.stack
+    );
+
+    // delete and re-create the log directory
+    await deleteAllLogs(logPath);
+    mkdirp.sync(logPath);
+  }
 }
 
 function isLineAfterDate(line, date) {
diff --git a/main.js b/main.js
index 0e90caa42..512d04a71 100644
--- a/main.js
+++ b/main.js
@@ -632,17 +632,7 @@ app.on('ready', async () => {
 
   installPermissionsHandler({ session, userConfig });
 
-  let loggingSetupError;
-  try {
-    await logging.initialize();
-  } catch (error) {
-    loggingSetupError = error;
-  }
-
-  if (loggingSetupError) {
-    console.error('Problem setting up logging', loggingSetupError.stack);
-  }
-
+  await logging.initialize();
   logger = logging.getLogger();
   logger.info('app ready');