diff --git a/lib/functions/image/loop.sh b/lib/functions/image/loop.sh
index 6866657bc..275e007a8 100644
--- a/lib/functions/image/loop.sh
+++ b/lib/functions/image/loop.sh
@@ -35,8 +35,13 @@ function check_loop_device_internal() {
 			run_host_command_logged ls -la "${device}"
 			run_host_command_logged lsblk
 			run_host_command_logged blkid
-			display_alert "Device node exists but is 0-sized" "${device}" "debug"
-			return 1
+			# only break on the first 3 iteractions. then give up; let it try to use the device...
+			if [[ ${RETRY_RUNS} -lt 4 ]]; then
+				display_alert "Device node exists but is 0-sized; retry ${RETRY_RUNS}" "${device}" "warn"
+				return 1
+			else
+				display_alert "Device node exists but is 0-sized; proceeding anyway" "${device}" "warn"
+			fi
 		fi
 	fi
 
diff --git a/lib/functions/logging/runners.sh b/lib/functions/logging/runners.sh
index a31881f58..6213c3a74 100644
--- a/lib/functions/logging/runners.sh
+++ b/lib/functions/logging/runners.sh
@@ -253,12 +253,14 @@ function do_with_retries() {
 	local counter=0
 	while [[ $counter -lt $retries ]]; do
 		counter=$((counter + 1))
+		declare -i RETRY_RUNS=${counter}
 		"$@" && return 0 # execute and return 0 if success; if not, let it loop;
 		if [[ "${silent_retry}" == "yes" ]]; then
 			: # do nothing
 		else
 			display_alert "Command failed, retrying in ${sleep_seconds}s" "$*" "warn"
 		fi
+		unset RETRY_RUNS
 		sleep ${sleep_seconds}
 	done
 	display_alert "Command failed ${counter} times, giving up" "$*" "warn"