diff --git a/scripts/deploy-remote.sh b/scripts/deploy-remote.sh
index 303189d..a0afbb2 100755
--- a/scripts/deploy-remote.sh
+++ b/scripts/deploy-remote.sh
@@ -1223,11 +1223,11 @@ PY
     # A stale container with the same name makes `podman run --name` fail at
     # start; remove any leftover from a failed previous attempt.
     podman rm -f "$LLM_PRIMARY_CONTAINER" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
-    # On a re-deploy the predecessor is THIS unit (the llama.cpp unit until
-    # the 2026-09-27 cutover, the vLLM unit after it): stop it before
-    # waiting on the port, or the wait deadlocks on the server it just
-    # stopped serving.
+    # A stopped unit can leave its container running: systemd's cgroup kill
+    # races conmon's --rm cleanup, and the orphan holds the port and GPUs.
+    # Stop the unit, then remove the container BEFORE waiting on the port.
     run_privileged systemctl stop frank-primary.service 2>/dev/null || true
+    podman rm -f "$LLM_PRIMARY_CONTAINER" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
     # Nothing starts until the port is released: the lucebox cutover
     # (2026-09-26) and the frank-large cutover (2026-09-16) both failed
     # exactly here when the next engine bound 7770 a second too early.
diff --git a/scripts/serve-frank-primary.sh b/scripts/serve-frank-primary.sh
index 8513053..20e8720 100755
--- a/scripts/serve-frank-primary.sh
+++ b/scripts/serve-frank-primary.sh
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ fi
 
 mkdir -p /home/dank/.cache/frank-primary-vllm
 
-SERVE_ARGS=(serve "$MODEL_DIR"
+SERVE_ARGS=("$MODEL_DIR"
     --served-model-name "$SERVED_NAME"
     --host "$BIND_HOST"
     --port "$PORT"
@@ -99,6 +99,10 @@ SERVE_ARGS=(serve "$MODEL_DIR"
 if [ -n "${SPEC_CONFIG:-}" ]; then
     SERVE_ARGS+=(--speculative-config "$SPEC_CONFIG")
 fi
+# A crashed/killed unit leaves the container name registered (systemd can
+# SIGKILL conmon before the --rm cleanup runs); podman run would then die
+# on name-in-use forever. Clear any orphan of OUR name first — idempotent.
+podman rm -f "$CONTAINER_NAME" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
 
 exec podman run --rm \
     --name "$CONTAINER_NAME" \
@@ -113,11 +117,13 @@ exec podman run --rm \
     -e ROCR_VISIBLE_DEVICES="$ROCR_VISIBLE_DEVICES" \
     -e HIP_VISIBLE_DEVICES="$HIP_VISIBLE_DEVICES" \
     -e VLLM_ROCM_USE_AITER="$VLLM_ROCM_USE_AITER" \
+    -e NCCL_P2P_DISABLE="$NCCL_P2P_DISABLE" \
     -e TRITON_CACHE_DIR="$CACHE_ROOT/triton" \
     -e TORCHINDUCTOR_CACHE_DIR="$CACHE_ROOT/inductor" \
-    -e VLLM_CACHE_DIR="$CACHE_ROOT/vllm" \
+    -e HOME="$CACHE_ROOT" \
     -e TRITON_ALLOW_NON_CONST_GLOBALS=1 \
     --volume /home/dank/models:/models \
     --volume /home/dank/.cache/frank-primary-vllm:"$CACHE_ROOT" \
     "$IMAGE" \
-    vllm "${SERVE_ARGS[@]}"
+    "${SERVE_ARGS[@]}"
+