chef validation regen fail

gistfile1.txt

Loading init file from ./config/init.rb
oQvG1pAvk3lYduI/zDdVFVf1pWNpDtlK5emWb905dWQBekQsqnC1nBT54yHXqi2p
[2012-08-17T14:06:01-04:00] ERROR: Error opening validation key: No such file or directory - /etc/chef/validation.pem -- destroying and regenerating
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-10.12.0/lib/chef/couchdb.rb:157:in `delete': undefined method `[]' for nil:NilClass (NoMethodError)
	from /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-10.12.0/lib/chef/api_client.rb:221:in `cdb_destroy'
	from /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-10.12.0/lib/chef/certificate.rb:119:in `gen_validation_key'
	from /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-server-api-10.12.0/config/init.rb:84
	from /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.1.3/lib/merb-core/bootloader.rb:529:in `load'
	from /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.1.3/lib/merb-core/bootloader.rb:529:in `load_initfile'
	from /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.1.3/lib/merb-core/bootloader.rb:377:in `run'
	from /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.1.3/lib/merb-core/bootloader.rb:97:in `run'
	from /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.1.3/lib/merb-core/server.rb:172:in `bootup'
	from /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.1.3/lib/merb-core/server.rb:42:in `start'
	from /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.1.3/lib/merb-core.rb:165:in `start'
	from /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-server-api-10.12.0/bin/chef-server:84
	from /usr/bin/chef-server:23:in `load'
	from /usr/bin/chef-server:23