diff --git a/python/ebook_search/search.py b/python/ebook_search/search.py
index 5c179db..371387d 100644
--- a/python/ebook_search/search.py
+++ b/python/ebook_search/search.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ from sqlalchemy import literal, select
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 
 from python.ebook_search.bm25_corpus import (
+    BM25CorpusUnavailableError,
     load_bm25_corpus,
     score_bm25_corpus,
 )
@@ -252,7 +253,12 @@ def vector_candidates(engine: Engine, query: str, config: EbookSearchConfig) ->
 
 def bm25_candidates(query: str, config: EbookSearchConfig) -> list[SearchResult]:
     """Return BM25-ranked lexical candidates using the persisted corpus."""
-    corpus = load_bm25_corpus(config)
+    try:
+        corpus = load_bm25_corpus(config)
+    except BM25CorpusUnavailableError as error:
+        logger.warning("ebook_bm25_index_unavailable_skipping error=%s", error)
+        return []
+
     if not corpus.records:
         logger.info("ebook_bm25_search_complete corpus=0 candidates=0")
         return []
diff --git a/tests/test_server_validate_scripts.py b/tests/test_server_validate_scripts.py
index 7831e27..07e3b99 100644
--- a/tests/test_server_validate_scripts.py
+++ b/tests/test_server_validate_scripts.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ def test_validate_system(mocker: MockerFixture, fs: FakeFilesystem) -> None:
     """test_validate_system."""
     fs.create_file(
         "/mock_snapshot_config.toml",
-        contents='zpool = ["root_pool", "storage", "media"]\nservices = ["docker"]\n',
+        contents='zpools = ["root_pool", "storage", "media"]\nservices = ["docker"]\n',
     )
 
     mocker.patch(f"{VALIDATE_SYSTEM}.systemd_tests", return_value=None)
@@ -33,9 +33,10 @@ def test_validate_system_errors(mocker: MockerFixture, fs: FakeFilesystem) -> No
     """test_validate_system_errors."""
     fs.create_file(
         "/mock_snapshot_config.toml",
-        contents='zpool = ["root_pool", "storage", "media"]\nservices = ["docker"]\n',
+        contents='zpools = ["root_pool", "storage", "media"]\nservices = ["docker"]\n',
     )
 
+    mocker.patch(f"{VALIDATE_SYSTEM}.signal_alert")
     mocker.patch(f"{VALIDATE_SYSTEM}.systemd_tests", return_value=["systemd_tests error"])
     mocker.patch(f"{VALIDATE_SYSTEM}.zpool_tests", return_value=["zpool_tests error"])
 
@@ -49,9 +50,11 @@ def test_validate_system_execution(mocker: MockerFixture, fs: FakeFilesystem) ->
     """test_validate_system_execution."""
     fs.create_file(
         "/mock_snapshot_config.toml",
-        contents='zpool = ["root_pool", "storage", "media"]\nservices = ["docker"]\n',
+        contents='zpools = ["root_pool", "storage", "media"]\nservices = ["docker"]\n',
     )
 
+    mocker.patch(f"{VALIDATE_SYSTEM}.signal_alert")
+    mocker.patch(f"{VALIDATE_SYSTEM}.systemd_tests", return_value=None)
     mocker.patch(f"{VALIDATE_SYSTEM}.zpool_tests", side_effect=RuntimeError("zpool_tests error"))
 
     with pytest.raises(SystemExit) as exception_info: