diff --git a/src/libPMacc/include/simulationControl/SimulationHelper.hpp b/src/libPMacc/include/simulationControl/SimulationHelper.hpp
index 4db9e08205..75502fb60a 100644
--- a/src/libPMacc/include/simulationControl/SimulationHelper.hpp
+++ b/src/libPMacc/include/simulationControl/SimulationHelper.hpp
@@ -126,6 +126,16 @@ class SimulationHelper : public IPlugin
         /* trigger checkpoint notification */
         if (checkpointPeriod && (currentStep % checkpointPeriod == 0))
         {
+            /* first synchronize: if something failed, we can spare the time
+             * for the checkpoint writing */
+            CUDA_CHECK(cudaDeviceSynchronize());
+            CUDA_CHECK(cudaGetLastError());
+
+            GridController<DIM> &gc = Environment<DIM>::get().GridController();
+            /* can be spared for better scalings, but allows to spare the
+             * time for checkpointing if some ranks died */
+            MPI_CHECK(MPI_Barrier(gc.getCommunicator().getMPIComm()));
+
             /* create directory containing checkpoints  */
             if (numCheckpoints == 0)
             {
@@ -135,7 +145,14 @@ class SimulationHelper : public IPlugin
             Environment<DIM>::get().PluginConnector().checkpointPlugins(currentStep,
                                                                         checkpointDirectory);
 
-            GridController<DIM> &gc = Environment<DIM>::get().GridController();
+            /* important synchronize: only if no errors occured until this
+             * point guarantees that a checkpoint is usable */
+            CUDA_CHECK(cudaDeviceSynchronize());
+            CUDA_CHECK(cudaGetLastError());
+
+            /* \todo in an ideal world with MPI-3, this would be an
+             * MPI_Ibarrier call and this function would return a MPI_Request
+             * that could be checked */
             MPI_CHECK(MPI_Barrier(gc.getCommunicator().getMPIComm()));
 
             if (gc.getGlobalRank() == 0)
diff --git a/src/picongpu/include/initialization/InitialiserController.hpp b/src/picongpu/include/initialization/InitialiserController.hpp
index f115f996be..c1b13d3b30 100644
--- a/src/picongpu/include/initialization/InitialiserController.hpp
+++ b/src/picongpu/include/initialization/InitialiserController.hpp
@@ -84,6 +84,14 @@ class InitialiserController : public IInitPlugin
         Environment<>::get().PluginConnector().restartPlugins(restartStep, restartDirectory);
         __getTransactionEvent().waitForFinished();
 
+        CUDA_CHECK(cudaDeviceSynchronize());
+        CUDA_CHECK(cudaGetLastError());
+
+        GridController<simDim> &gc = Environment<simDim>::get().GridController();
+        /* can be spared for better scalings, but guarantees the user
+         * that the restart was successful */
+        MPI_CHECK(MPI_Barrier(gc.getCommunicator().getMPIComm()));
+
         log<picLog::SIMULATION_STATE > ("Loading from persistent data finished");
     }