diff --git a/kernel/trunk/test/common/__init__.py b/kernel/trunk/test/common/__init__.py
index 3379710144..4e49940383 100644
--- a/kernel/trunk/test/common/__init__.py
+++ b/kernel/trunk/test/common/__init__.py
@@ -25,16 +25,25 @@ class TestTimeoutException(Exception):
     pass
 
 class TestFailureException(Exception):
-    pass
+    def __init__(self, message):
+        self.message = message
 
 class Qemu:
     def __init__(self, popen, debug_log):
         self.popen = popen
         # Qemu needs time to create debug.log file
-        while not os.path.exists(debug_log):
-            self.wait()
+        while not os.path.exists(debug_log) and self.qemu_is_alive():
+            self.wait(0.250)
+        self.assert_qemu_not_died("waiting for the debug log file")
         self.debug = open(debug_log, "rb")
 
+    def qemu_is_alive(self):
+        return self.popen.poll() == None
+
+    def assert_qemu_not_died(self, while_):
+        if not self.qemu_is_alive():
+            raise TestFailureException(f"Qemu has finished while {while_}.")
+
     def wait_for_debug_log(self, needle, timeout = 1):
         needle = bytes(needle, "utf-8")
         start = timeit.default_timer()
@@ -42,6 +51,7 @@ class Qemu:
 
         # While no timeout, read and search logs
         while timeit.default_timer() - start < timeout:
+            # TODO: Non-blocking read.
             log += self.debug.read(1)
             if needle in log:
                 return
@@ -57,6 +67,8 @@ class Qemu:
             if len(log) > len(needle) * 2:
                 log = log[len(needle):]
 
+            self.assert_qemu_not_died("waiting for the debug log")
+
         self.timeout()
 
     def kill(self):
@@ -66,15 +78,11 @@ class Qemu:
         else:
             os.killpg(os.getpgid(self.popen.pid), signal.SIGTERM)
 
-    def failure(self):
-        self.kill()
-        raise TestFailureException()
-
     def timeout(self):
         self.kill()
         raise TestTimeoutException()
 
-    def wait(self, seconds = 0.25):
+    def wait(self, seconds):
         time.sleep(seconds)
 
 def run_qemu(root_dir, test_dir, debug_log):