diff --git a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplicationEntryPoint.java b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplicationEntryPoint.java
index e750c07..8ccf50b 100644
--- a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplicationEntryPoint.java
+++ b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplicationEntryPoint.java
@@ -88,8 +88,6 @@
         }
         if (systemState == SystemState.CORRUPTED) {
             recoveryMgr.startRecovery(true);
-        } else if (systemState == SystemState.NEW_UNIVERSE) {
-            recoveryMgr.checkpoint(true);
         }
     }
 
@@ -181,7 +179,7 @@
 
         IRecoveryManager recoveryMgr = runtimeContext.getTransactionSubsystem().getRecoveryManager();
         recoveryMgr.checkpoint(true);
-        
+
         if (isMetadataNode) {
             IMetadataNode stub = null;
             stub = (IMetadataNode) UnicastRemoteObject.exportObject(MetadataNode.INSTANCE, 0);
diff --git a/asterix-transactions/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/transaction/management/resource/PersistentLocalResourceRepository.java b/asterix-transactions/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/transaction/management/resource/PersistentLocalResourceRepository.java
index c11766a..595b565 100644
--- a/asterix-transactions/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/transaction/management/resource/PersistentLocalResourceRepository.java
+++ b/asterix-transactions/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/transaction/management/resource/PersistentLocalResourceRepository.java
@@ -84,10 +84,9 @@
                 if (!rootMetadataDir.exists()) {
                     boolean success = rootMetadataDir.mkdirs();
                     if (!success) {
-                        if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.SEVERE)) {
-                            LOGGER.severe("Unable to create root metadata directory"
-                                    + rootMetadataDir.getAbsolutePath());
-                        }
+                        throw new IllegalStateException(
+                                "Unable to create root metadata directory of PersistentLocalResourceRepository in "
+                                        + rootMetadataDir.getAbsolutePath());
                     }
                     if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) {
                         LOGGER.info("created the root-metadata-file's directory: " + rootMetadataDir.getAbsolutePath());