A fluid infusion device including a housing that receives a sealed fluid reservoir is presented here. The fluid infusion device includes a drive motor assembly, an actuation mechanism, a force sensor, and at least one processor in the housing. The processor detects insertion of the fluid reservoir and incrementally rewinds the drive motor assembly to achieve an equilibrium state. The processor advances the drive motor assembly and obtains at least one measure of force using the force sensor until the at least one measure of force indicates that the fluid reservoir has reached an initial seated state. The processor performs a stabilizing cycle with the drive motor assembly. The processor advances the drive motor assembly and obtains at least one subsequent measure of force using the force sensor until the at least one subsequent measure of force indicates that the fluid reservoir has reached a subsequent sealed state.
