diff --git a/debugd/debugd/deploy/download.go b/debugd/debugd/deploy/download.go
index 7d916a164..80cbadb66 100644
--- a/debugd/debugd/deploy/download.go
+++ b/debugd/debugd/deploy/download.go
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ func (d *Download) DownloadCoordinator(ctx context.Context, ip string) error {
 	serverAddr := net.JoinHostPort(ip, debugd.DebugdPort)
 	// only retry download from same endpoint after backoff
 	if lastAttempt, ok := d.attemptedDownloads[serverAddr]; ok && time.Since(lastAttempt) < debugd.CoordinatorDownloadRetryBackoff {
-		return nil
+		return fmt.Errorf("download failed too recently: %v / %v", time.Since(lastAttempt), debugd.CoordinatorDownloadRetryBackoff)
 	}
 	log.Printf("Trying to download coordinator from %s\n", ip)
 	d.attemptedDownloads[serverAddr] = time.Now()
diff --git a/debugd/debugd/deploy/download_test.go b/debugd/debugd/deploy/download_test.go
index be74aa6d6..13c9579ac 100644
--- a/debugd/debugd/deploy/download_test.go
+++ b/debugd/debugd/deploy/download_test.go
@@ -52,10 +52,7 @@ func TestDownloadCoordinator(t *testing.T) {
 			attemptedDownloads: map[string]time.Time{
 				"192.0.2.0:4000": time.Now(),
 			},
-			expectDownloadErr:   false,
-			expectFile:          false,
-			expectSystemdAction: false,
-			expectDeployed:      false,
+			expectDownloadErr: true,
 		},
 		"download rpc call error is detected": {
 			server: fakeOnlyDownloadServer{