diff --git a/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java b/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java
index 73db4e40c6..651234c16d 100644
--- a/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java
+++ b/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java
@@ -594,11 +594,11 @@ public abstract class BaseComputeServiceLiveTest extends BaseVersionedServiceLiv
       watch.reset().start();
 
       IPSocket socket = new IPSocket(Iterables.get(node.getPublicAddresses(), 0), 8080);
-      assert preciseSocketTester.apply(socket) : String.format("failed to open socket %s on node %s", socket, node);
+      assert preciseSocketTester.apply(socket) : String.format("failed to open socket %s on node %s:%n%s%s", socket,
+            node, init(node, processName, "tail"), init(node, processName, "tailerr"));
       stats.socketOpenMilliseconds = watch.elapsedTime(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
 
-      exec = client.runScriptOnNode(node.getId(), "./" + processName + " tail", runAsRoot(false)
-            .wrapInInitScript(false));
+      exec = init(node, processName, "tail");
 
       Matcher matcher = parseReported.matcher(exec.getOutput());
       if (matcher.find())
@@ -608,6 +608,11 @@ public abstract class BaseComputeServiceLiveTest extends BaseVersionedServiceLiv
       return stats;
    }
 
+   public ExecResponse init(NodeMetadata node, String processName, String command) {
+      return client.runScriptOnNode(node.getId(), "./" + processName + " "+command, runAsRoot(false)
+            .wrapInInitScript(false));
+   }
+
    // started in 6462ms -
    public static final Pattern JBOSS_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("started in ([0-9]+)ms -");