diff --git a/config/macros.m4 b/config/macros.m4
index 83cdd56a..602593d4 100644
--- a/config/macros.m4
+++ b/config/macros.m4
@@ -779,6 +779,8 @@ AC_DEFUN([AX_PROG_BINUTILS],
          elif test -r "${binutils_home_dir}/lib/libbfd.a" -a \
                       "${binutils_require_shared}" = "no" ; then
             BFD_LIBSDIR="${binutils_home_dir}/lib"
+	 elif test -r "${binutils_home_dir}/libbfd.so" ; then
+            BFD_LIBSDIR="${binutils_home_dir}"
          else
             dnl Try something more automatic using find command
             libbfd_lib=""
@@ -814,6 +816,8 @@ AC_DEFUN([AX_PROG_BINUTILS],
             LIBERTY_LIBSDIR="${binutils_home_dir}/lib"
          elif test -r "${binutils_home_dir}/lib/libiberty.a" ; then
             LIBERTY_LIBSDIR="${binutils_home_dir}/lib"
+	elif test -r "${binutils_home_dir}/libiberty.a" ; then
+            LIBERTY_LIBSDIR="${binutils_home_dir}"
          else
             dnl Try something more automatic using find command
             libiberty_lib=""
diff --git a/src/tracer/hwc/papi_hwc.c b/src/tracer/hwc/papi_hwc.c
index c9f5c158..4bd71c3f 100644
--- a/src/tracer/hwc/papi_hwc.c
+++ b/src/tracer/hwc/papi_hwc.c
@@ -615,7 +615,7 @@ int HWCBE_PAPI_Init_Thread (UINT64 time, int threadid, int forked)
 						char EventName[PAPI_MAX_STR_LEN];
 
 						PAPI_event_code_to_name (HWC_sets[i].counters[j], EventName);
-						fprintf (stderr, PACKAGE_NAME": Error! Hardware counter %s (0x%08x) cannot be added in set %d (task %d, thread %d)\n", EventName, HWC_sets[i].counters[j], i+1, TASKID, threadid);
+						fprintf (stderr, PACKAGE_NAME": Error! Hardware counter %s (0x%08x) cannot be added in set %d (task %d, thread %d) because PAPI_add_event returned %d\n", EventName, HWC_sets[i].counters[j], i+1, TASKID, threadid, rc);
 						HWC_sets[i].counters[j] = NO_COUNTER;
 						/* break; */
 					}
diff --git a/tests/functional/xml/check_Extrae_xml_envvar_counters.sh b/tests/functional/xml/check_Extrae_xml_envvar_counters.sh
index 51f35c2d..21950cbb 100755
--- a/tests/functional/xml/check_Extrae_xml_envvar_counters.sh
+++ b/tests/functional/xml/check_Extrae_xml_envvar_counters.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,19 @@ COUNTERS=PAPI_TOT_INS EXTRAE_CONFIG_FILE=extrae_envvar_counters.xml ./check_Extr
 ../../../src/merger/mpi2prv -f TRACE.mpits -o ${TRACE}.prv
 
 # Check
+if ! command -v papi_avail &> /dev/null
+then
+        echo "papi_avail could not be found"
+        exit 0
+fi
+
+PAPI_TOT_CYC_available=`papi_avail | grep PAPI_TOT_CYC | awk '{print $3}'`
+if [[ "$PAPI_TOT_CYC_available" == No ]]
+then
+        echo "PAPI_TOT_CYC is not available"
+        exit 0
+fi
+
 CheckEntryInPCF ${TRACE}.pcf PAPI_TOT_INS
 
 rm -fr TRACE* set-0 ${TRACE}.???