diff --git a/.murdock b/.murdock
index edc17b6dae..462077ac93 100755
--- a/.murdock
+++ b/.murdock
@@ -144,7 +144,12 @@ compile() {
     local board=$(echo $2 | cut -f 1 -d':')
     local toolchain=$(echo $2 | cut -f 2 -d':')
 
-    [ "$board" = "makefile_broken" ] && error "$0: Makefile in \"$appdir\" seems to be broken!"
+    [ "$board" = "makefile_broken" ] && {
+        echo "$0: There seems to be a problem in \"$appdir\" while getting supported boards!"
+        echo "$0: testing \"make -C$appdir info-boards-supported\"..."
+        make -C$appdir info-boards-supported && echo "$0: success. no idea what's wrong." || echo "$0: failed!"
+        exit 1
+    }
 
     # set build directory. CI ensures only one build at a time in $(pwd).
     export BINDIR="$(pwd)/build"