diff --git a/targets/build_helper.bash b/targets/build_helper.bash
index e752d28702e951805f05e566e61de9f7bca60a71..d046e7cc03e92d95ce3349ce2c9e0220823350d4 100755
--- a/targets/build_helper.bash
+++ b/targets/build_helper.bash
@@ -307,7 +307,8 @@ check_install_freediamter(){
 
 
 test_is_host_reachable() {
-    ping -c 1 $1 > /dev/null || { echo_fatal "$1 does not respond to ping" >&2 ; }
+    ping -c 1 $1 > /dev/null || { echo_fatal "$2 host $1 does not respond to ping" >&2 ; }
+    echo_success "$2 host $1 is reachable"
 }
 
 
diff --git a/targets/build_oai.bash b/targets/build_oai.bash
index 86df94ac8d94e03e485012ab1c052d3a17c9a30f..9023e97c4e596ceae39c2df8f01dc24224bced4b 100755
--- a/targets/build_oai.bash
+++ b/targets/build_oai.bash
@@ -563,6 +563,7 @@ build_epc(){
     
     TEMP_FILE=`tempfile`
     VARIABLES=" S6A_CONF\|\
+           HSS_HOSTNAME\|\
            REALM"
 
     VARIABLES=$(echo $VARIABLES | sed -e 's/\\r//g')
@@ -802,7 +803,7 @@ if [ $RUN -ne 0 ]; then
         
         'EPC')
             echo "############# running EPC #############"
-            #test_is_host_reachable 
+            test_is_host_reachable $HSS_HOSTNAME.$REALM HSS
             if [ $RUN_GDB -eq 0 ]; then
                 $SUDO $OPENAIR_TARGETS/bin/oai_epc  `echo $EXE_ARGUMENTS`
             else