diff --git a/hack/lib/etcd.sh b/hack/lib/etcd.sh
index cb221512022..f0ab3bc1fa0 100644
--- a/hack/lib/etcd.sh
+++ b/hack/lib/etcd.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ kube::etcd::start() {
   }
 
   if pgrep etcd >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-    kube::log::usage "etcd appears to already be running on this machine. Please kill and restart the test."
+    kube::log::usage "etcd appears to already be running on this machine (`pgrep -l etcd`) (or its a zombie and you need to kill its parent)."
+    kube::log::usage "retry after you resolve this etcd error."
     exit 1
   fi