diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py b/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py
index 42cbe52c1..cdbe47b8f 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py
@@ -1314,6 +1314,7 @@ class AxolotlInputConfig(
             and data.get("gradient_checkpointing_kwargs", {})
             and data.get("gradient_checkpointing_kwargs", {}).get("use_reentrant")
             is False
+            and data.get("deepspeed", "") is not None
             and "zero3" in data.get("deepspeed", "")
         ):
             # may result in:
diff --git a/tests/test_validation.py b/tests/test_validation.py
index f3f4d18ab..491f230c3 100644
--- a/tests/test_validation.py
+++ b/tests/test_validation.py
@@ -68,6 +68,53 @@ class TestValidation(BaseValidation):
         assert cfg.train_on_inputs is False
         assert cfg.weight_decay is None
 
+    def test_zero3_qlora_use_reentrant_false(self, minimal_cfg):
+        test_cfg = DictDefault(
+            {
+                "deepspeed": "deepspeed_configs/zero3_bf16.json",
+                "gradient_checkpointing": True,
+                "gradient_checkpointing_kwargs": {"use_reentrant": False},
+                "load_in_4bit": True,
+                "adapter": "qlora",
+            }
+            | minimal_cfg
+        )
+
+        with self._caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING):
+            validate_config(test_cfg)
+            assert (
+                "qlora + zero3 with use_reentrant: false may result in a CheckpointError about recomputed values"
+                in self._caplog.records[0].message
+            )
+
+    def test_deepspeed_empty(self, minimal_cfg):
+        test_cfg = DictDefault(
+            {
+                "deepspeed": "",
+                "gradient_checkpointing": True,
+                "gradient_checkpointing_kwargs": {"use_reentrant": False},
+                "load_in_4bit": True,
+                "adapter": "qlora",
+            }
+            | minimal_cfg
+        )
+
+        _ = validate_config(test_cfg)
+
+    def test_deepspeed_not_set(self, minimal_cfg):
+        test_cfg = DictDefault(
+            {
+                "deepspeed": None,
+                "gradient_checkpointing": True,
+                "gradient_checkpointing_kwargs": {"use_reentrant": False},
+                "load_in_4bit": True,
+                "adapter": "qlora",
+            }
+            | minimal_cfg
+        )
+
+        _ = validate_config(test_cfg)
+
     def test_datasets_min_length(self):
         cfg = DictDefault(
             {