diff --git a/smoker/client/__init__.py b/smoker/client/__init__.py
index a068704..5291732 100644
--- a/smoker/client/__init__.py
+++ b/smoker/client/__init__.py
@@ -388,7 +388,11 @@ def poll(self, uri, sleep=1):
 
             if not res:
                 if retries == 0:
-                    lg.error("Polling on %s failed after 3 retries" % uri)
+                    lg.error(
+                        "Polling on %s failed after 3 retries. This may "
+                        "happen when a plugin died while waiting for the "
+                        "result. Please retry and check log on the hosts if "
+                        "it happens again." % uri)
                     return False
                 else:
                     retries -= 1
diff --git a/smoker/server/plugins/__init__.py b/smoker/server/plugins/__init__.py
index ef7c283..9a8cf2d 100644
--- a/smoker/server/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/smoker/server/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -557,6 +557,7 @@ def run_module(self, module, **kwargs):
         except Exception as e:
             lg.error("Plugin %s: module execution failed: %s" % (self.name, e))
             lg.exception(e)
+            signal.alarm(0)
             raise
 
         signal.alarm(0)