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 6c500f3324..10e80d9f33 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
@@ -1299,7 +1299,7 @@ def warn_qlora_zero3_w_use_reentrant(cls, data):
             and data.get("gradient_checkpointing_kwargs", {})
             and data.get("gradient_checkpointing_kwargs", {}).get("use_reentrant")
             is False
-            and "zero3" in data.get("deepspeed")
+            and "zero3" in data.get("deepspeed", "")
         ):
             # may result in:
             # torch.utils.checkpoint.CheckpointError: torch.utils.checkpoint: