diff --git a/src/libext/elpa/build_elpa.sh b/src/libext/elpa/build_elpa.sh
index 07790045f7..782278d2aa 100755
--- a/src/libext/elpa/build_elpa.sh
+++ b/src/libext/elpa/build_elpa.sh
@@ -18,9 +18,10 @@ echo %%%%%%% debug make failures
 arch=`uname -m`
 source ../libext_utils/getfiles_utils.sh
 get_elpa
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "elpa download failed" ; exit 1 ;  fi
 # version set in ../libext_utils/getfiles_utils.sh
 echo mpif90 is `which mpif90`
-tar xzvf elpa-*.tar.gz && rm elpa-*.tar.gz
+tar xzf elpa-*.tar.gz && rm elpa-*.tar.gz
 ln -sf elpa-* elpa
 cd elpa
 rm -f check_thread_affinity.patch
diff --git a/src/libext/libext_utils/getfiles_utils.sh b/src/libext/libext_utils/getfiles_utils.sh
index 612bfe5be0..a8f6ff954d 100644
--- a/src/libext/libext_utils/getfiles_utils.sh
+++ b/src/libext/libext_utils/getfiles_utils.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ get_elpa(){
     echo ELPA VERSION is $VERSION
     if [ -f  elpa-${VERSION}.tar.gz ]; then
 	echo "using existing"  elpa-${VERSION}.tar.gz
+	return 0
     else
 	rm -rf elpa*
 	ELPA_URL=("https://elpa.mpcdf.mpg.de/software/tarball-archive/Releases/${VERSION}/elpa-${VERSION}.tar.gz" \
@@ -23,8 +24,11 @@ get_elpa(){
 	    do
 		if [ "$tries" -gt 1 ]; then echo sleeping for 9s ;sleep 9; echo attempt no.  $tries ; fi
 		curl -L --progress-bar  $url -o elpa-${VERSION}.tar.gz
-		gzip -t elpa-${VERSION}.tar.gz >&  /dev/null
-		if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then break ;  fi
+		#echo checking gz integrity
+		if [ -f elpa-${VERSION}.tar.gz ]; then
+		    gzip -t elpa-${VERSION}.tar.gz >&  /dev/null
+		    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then break ;  fi
+		fi
 		tries=$((tries+1))
 	    done
 	    gzip -t elpa-${VERSION}.tar.gz >&  /dev/null