diff --git a/test/e2e/serial/tests/tolerations.go b/test/e2e/serial/tests/tolerations.go
index e5159b2ea..f95eb6e69 100644
--- a/test/e2e/serial/tests/tolerations.go
+++ b/test/e2e/serial/tests/tolerations.go
@@ -469,10 +469,11 @@ var _ = Describe("[serial][disruptive][rtetols] numaresources RTE tolerations su
 
 				// NoExecute promises the pod will be evicted "immediately" but the system will still need nonzero time to notice
 				// and the pod will take nonzero time to terminate, so we need a Eventually block.
+				By(fmt.Sprintf("ensuring the RTE DS is running with less pods because taints (expected pods=%v)", len(workers)-1))
 				Eventually(func(g Gomega) {
+					Expect(fxt.Client.Get(ctx, dsKey.AsKey(), updatedDs)).To(Succeed())
 					pods, err = podlist.With(fxt.Client).ByDaemonset(ctx, *updatedDs)
 					Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred(), "failed to get the daemonset pods %s: %v", dsKey.String(), err)
-					By(fmt.Sprintf("ensuring the RTE DS is running with less pods because taints (expected pods=%v)", len(workers)-1))
 					g.Expect(int(updatedDs.Status.NumberReady)).To(Equal(len(workers)-1), "updated DS ready=%v original worker nodes=%v", updatedDs.Status.NumberReady, len(workers)-1)
 					g.Expect(int(updatedDs.Status.NumberReady)).To(Equal(len(pods)), "updated DS ready=%v expected pods", updatedDs.Status.NumberReady, len(pods))
 				}).WithTimeout(5 * time.Minute).WithPolling(10 * time.Second).Should(Succeed())
diff --git a/test/e2e/serial/tests/workload_placement_tmpol.go b/test/e2e/serial/tests/workload_placement_tmpol.go
index 72fc647e7..7796bc8ff 100644
--- a/test/e2e/serial/tests/workload_placement_tmpol.go
+++ b/test/e2e/serial/tests/workload_placement_tmpol.go
@@ -152,10 +152,16 @@ var _ = Describe("[serial][disruptive][scheduler] numaresources workload placeme
 				Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred(), "missing node load info for %q", nodeName)
 				// TODO: multi-line value in structured log
 				klog.InfoS("computed base load", "value", baseload)
-				baseload.Apply(paddingRes)
+				paddingResWithBaseload := paddingRes.DeepCopy()
+				baseload.Apply(paddingResWithBaseload)
+				var zonePaddingRes corev1.ResourceList
 				for zIdx, zone := range nrtInfo.Zones {
+					zonePaddingRes = paddingRes
+					if zIdx == 0 {
+						zonePaddingRes = paddingResWithBaseload
+					}
 					podName := fmt.Sprintf("padding-%d-%d", nIdx, zIdx)
-					padPod, err := makePaddingPod(fxt.Namespace.Name, podName, zone, paddingRes)
+					padPod, err := makePaddingPod(fxt.Namespace.Name, podName, zone, zonePaddingRes)
 					Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred(), "unable to create padding pod %q on zone %q", podName, zone.Name)
 
 					padPod, err = pinPodTo(padPod, nodeName, zone.Name)
diff --git a/test/internal/fixture/fixture.go b/test/internal/fixture/fixture.go
index 365751436..e6707adce 100644
--- a/test/internal/fixture/fixture.go
+++ b/test/internal/fixture/fixture.go
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ import (
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/yaml"
 
+	machineconfigv1 "github.com/openshift/api/machineconfiguration/v1"
+
 	"github.com/k8stopologyawareschedwg/deployer/pkg/deployer"
 	nrtv1alpha2 "github.com/k8stopologyawareschedwg/noderesourcetopology-api/pkg/apis/topology/v1alpha2"
 
@@ -102,6 +104,7 @@ func SetupWithOptions(name string, nrtList nrtv1alpha2.NodeResourceTopologyList,
 	randomizeName := (options & OptionRandomizeName) == OptionRandomizeName
 	avoidCooldown := (options & OptionAvoidCooldown) == OptionAvoidCooldown
 	staticClusterData := (options & OptionStaticClusterData) == OptionStaticClusterData
+
 	ginkgo.By("set up the test namespace")
 	ns, err := setupNamespace(e2eclient.Client, name, randomizeName)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -133,6 +136,44 @@ func SetupWithOptions(name string, nrtList nrtv1alpha2.NodeResourceTopologyList,
 	}
 	klog.Infof("set up the fixture reference NRT List: %s", intnrt.ListToString(nrtList.Items, " fixture initial"))
 
+	ginkgo.By("warn about not updated MCPs")
+	var mcps machineconfigv1.MachineConfigPoolList
+	err = wait.PollUntilContextTimeout(ctx, 10*time.Second, 30*time.Second, true, func(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
+		err := e2eclient.Client.List(ctx, &mcps)
+		return err == nil, nil
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		klog.Errorf("failed to pull MCP items: %v", err)
+	} else {
+		for _, mcp := range mcps.Items {
+			conditions := mcp.Status.Conditions
+			for _, condition := range conditions {
+				if condition.Type == machineconfigv1.MachineConfigPoolUpdated {
+					if condition.Status != corev1.ConditionTrue {
+						klog.Warningf("MCP %q is not updated", mcp.Name)
+						klog.InfoS("MCP status", "name", mcp.Name, "conditions", conditions)
+					}
+					break
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	ginkgo.By("warn about unschedulable nodes")
+	var nodes corev1.NodeList
+	err = wait.PollUntilContextTimeout(ctx, 10*time.Second, 30*time.Second, true, func(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
+		err := e2eclient.Client.List(ctx, &nodes)
+		return err == nil, nil
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		klog.Errorf("failed to pull cluster nodes: %v", err)
+	} else {
+		for _, node := range nodes.Items {
+			if node.Spec.Unschedulable {
+				klog.Warningf("Node %q is unschedulable", node.Name)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	return &Fixture{
 		Client:         e2eclient.Client,
 		K8sClient:      e2eclient.K8sClient,