diff --git a/other/java/client/src/main/java/seaweedfs/client/SeaweedRead.java b/other/java/client/src/main/java/seaweedfs/client/SeaweedRead.java
index fbc3296ae..97da29447 100644
--- a/other/java/client/src/main/java/seaweedfs/client/SeaweedRead.java
+++ b/other/java/client/src/main/java/seaweedfs/client/SeaweedRead.java
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ public class SeaweedRead {
         int startOffset = bufferOffset;
         for (ChunkView chunkView : chunkViews) {
             FilerProto.Locations locations = vid2Locations.get(parseVolumeId(chunkView.fileId));
-            if (locations.getLocationsCount() == 0) {
+            if (locations == null || locations.getLocationsCount() == 0) {
+                LOG.error("failed to locate {}", chunkView.fileId);
                 // log here!
                 return 0;
             }