diff --git a/system/athena/manage_athenad.py b/system/athena/manage_athenad.py
index fb514bc1ca..7158cd9220 100755
--- a/system/athena/manage_athenad.py
+++ b/system/athena/manage_athenad.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ def main():
 
 def manage_athenad(dongle_id_param, pid_param, process_name, target):
   params = Params()
-  dongle_id = params.get(dongle_id_param).decode('utf-8')
+  dongle_id = params.get(dongle_id_param, encoding='utf-8')
   build_metadata = get_build_metadata()
 
   cloudlog.bind_global(dongle_id=dongle_id,
diff --git a/system/athena/sunnylinkd.py b/system/athena/sunnylinkd.py
index f999f1eb2f..2f19983198 100755
--- a/system/athena/sunnylinkd.py
+++ b/system/athena/sunnylinkd.py
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ def main(exit_event: threading.Event = None):
   is_registered = params.get("SunnylinkDongleId", encoding='utf-8') not in (None, UNREGISTERED_SUNNYLINK_DONGLE_ID)
   while params.get_bool("SunnylinkEnabled") and not is_registered:
     cloudlog.info("Waiting for sunnylink registration to complete")
-    time.sleep(60)
+    time.sleep(10)
 
   UploadQueueCache.initialize(upload_queue)