diff --git a/tensorboard/data/BUILD b/tensorboard/data/BUILD
index 77cff74f58..bacffc3da4 100644
--- a/tensorboard/data/BUILD
+++ b/tensorboard/data/BUILD
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ py_library(
         ":ingester",
         "//tensorboard:expect_grpc_installed",
         "//tensorboard:expect_pkg_resources_installed",
+        "//tensorboard/data/proto:protos_all_py_pb2",
         "//tensorboard/util:tb_logging",
     ],
 )
diff --git a/tensorboard/data/server_ingester.py b/tensorboard/data/server_ingester.py
index de74057e71..fb0d2fc59c 100644
--- a/tensorboard/data/server_ingester.py
+++ b/tensorboard/data/server_ingester.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 
 from tensorboard.data import grpc_provider
 from tensorboard.data import ingester
+from tensorboard.data.proto import data_provider_pb2
 from tensorboard.util import tb_logging
 
 
@@ -47,7 +48,8 @@ def __init__(self, address, *, channel_creds_type):
           channel_creds_type: `grpc_util.ChannelCredsType`, as passed to
             `--grpc_creds_type`.
         """
-        self._data_provider = _make_provider(address, channel_creds_type)
+        stub = _make_stub(address, channel_creds_type)
+        self._data_provider = grpc_provider.GrpcDataProvider(address, stub)
 
     @property
     def data_provider(self):
@@ -170,13 +172,23 @@ def start(self):
             )
 
         addr = "localhost:%d" % port
-        self._data_provider = _make_provider(addr, self._channel_creds_type)
+        stub = _make_stub(addr, self._channel_creds_type)
         logger.info(
-            "Established connection to data server at pid %d via %s",
+            "Opened channel to data server at pid %d via %s",
             popen.pid,
             addr,
         )
 
+        req = data_provider_pb2.GetExperimentRequest()
+        try:
+            stub.GetExperiment(req, timeout=5)  # should be near-instant
+        except grpc.RpcError as e:
+            msg = "Failed to communicate with data server at %s: %s" % (addr, e)
+            logging.warning("%s", msg)
+            raise DataServerStartupError(msg) from e
+        logger.info("Got valid response from data server")
+        self._data_provider = grpc_provider.GrpcDataProvider(addr, stub)
+
 
 def _maybe_read_file(path):
     """Read a file, or return `None` on ENOENT specifically."""
@@ -189,12 +201,11 @@ def _maybe_read_file(path):
         raise
 
 
-def _make_provider(addr, channel_creds_type):
+def _make_stub(addr, channel_creds_type):
     (creds, options) = channel_creds_type.channel_config()
     options.append(("grpc.max_receive_message_length", 1024 * 1024 * 256))
     channel = grpc.secure_channel(addr, creds, options=options)
-    stub = grpc_provider.make_stub(channel)
-    return grpc_provider.GrpcDataProvider(addr, stub)
+    return grpc_provider.make_stub(channel)
 
 
 class NoDataServerError(RuntimeError):
diff --git a/tensorboard/version.py b/tensorboard/version.py
index 94d570a915..7ecaad5974 100644
--- a/tensorboard/version.py
+++ b/tensorboard/version.py
@@ -15,4 +15,4 @@
 
 """Contains the version string."""
 
-VERSION = "2.5.0a0"
+VERSION = "2.5.0"