diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/cm/cgroup_manager_linux.go b/pkg/kubelet/cm/cgroup_manager_linux.go
index 7af479657c39e..b3ac10d9433bc 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/cm/cgroup_manager_linux.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/cm/cgroup_manager_linux.go
@@ -291,6 +291,9 @@ func (m *cgroupManagerImpl) Validate(name CgroupName) error {
 
 // Exists checks if all subsystem cgroups already exist
 func (m *cgroupManagerImpl) Exists(name CgroupName) bool {
+	if m.Validate(name) != nil {
+		klog.V(2).InfoS("Unable to validate cgroup", "name", name)
+	}
 	return m.Validate(name) == nil
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/cm/qos_container_manager_linux.go b/pkg/kubelet/cm/qos_container_manager_linux.go
index 212d3cfb5b09f..13ccaebf96ca3 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/cm/qos_container_manager_linux.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/cm/qos_container_manager_linux.go
@@ -84,7 +84,8 @@ func (m *qosContainerManagerImpl) Start(getNodeAllocatable func() v1.ResourceLis
 	cm := m.cgroupManager
 	rootContainer := m.cgroupRoot
 	if !cm.Exists(rootContainer) {
-		return fmt.Errorf("root container %v doesn't exist", rootContainer)
+		err := fmt.Errorf("root container %v doesn't exist", rootContainer)
+		return err
 	}
 
 	// Top level for Qos containers are created only for Burstable