Two questions:

1. Is it possible, that I have active connections, but none knows the next block(s)? On one machine the client is stuck at block 4610 and won't go on no matter what I do (nothing changed on the machine, worked until one of the above error messages).
The other client, freshly set up, crashed about a dozen times on it's way to completing the fetching, is now stuck on block 5405 although it has active connections.

2. Do I have to enter the mnemonic every time the client is restarted or does it remember the "account to stake on" and that it is supposed to stake?
When i refresh the web interface after a restart it still says "true" above the "start staking" control element.

thanks!