diff --git a/db/pdfile.h b/db/pdfile.h
index 19d75c8a41b..7ef25a3e0a1 100644
--- a/db/pdfile.h
+++ b/db/pdfile.h
@@ -114,6 +114,17 @@ public:
 	DiskLoc firstRecord, lastRecord;
 	char extentData[4];
 
+	bool validates() { 
+		return !(firstRecord.isNull() ^ lastRecord.isNull()) &&
+			length >= 0 && !myLoc.isNull();
+	}
+
+	void dump(iostream& s) { 
+		s << "    loc:" << myLoc.toString() << " xnext:" << xnext.toString() << " xprev:" << xprev.toString() << '\n';
+		s << "    ns:" << ns.buf << '\n';
+		s << "    size:" << length << " firstRecord:" << firstRecord.toString() << " lastRecord:" << lastRecord.toString() << '\n';
+	}
+
 	/* assumes already zeroed -- insufficient for block 'reuse' perhaps 
 	Returns a DeletedRecord location which is the data in the extent ready for us.
 	Caller will need to add that to the freelist structure in namespacedetail.
diff --git a/db/query.cpp b/db/query.cpp
index 109257408f6..80f4bbf316c 100644
--- a/db/query.cpp
+++ b/db/query.cpp
@@ -332,14 +332,23 @@ void clean(const char *ns, NamespaceDetails *d) {
 }
 
 string validateNS(const char *ns, NamespaceDetails *d) {
+	bool valid = true;
 	stringstream ss;
-	ss << "\nvalidate ";
+	ss << "\nvalidate\n";
 	if( d->capped )
-		cout << " capped:" << d->capped << " max:" << d->max;
-	ss << "\n";
+		ss << "  capped:" << d->capped << " max:" << d->max << '\n';
+
+	ss << "  firstExtent:" << d->firstExtent.toString() << " lastExtent:" << d->lastExtent.toString() << '\n';
+	ss << "  datasize?:" << d->datasize << " nrecords?:" << d->nrecords << " lastExtentSize:" << d->lastExtentSize << '\n';
 
 	try { 
 
+		{
+			ss << "  first extent:\n";
+			d->firstExtent.ext()->dump(ss);
+			valid = valid && d->firstExtent.ext()->validates();
+		}
+
 		auto_ptr<Cursor> c = theDataFileMgr.findAll(ns);
 		int n = 0;
 		long long len = 0;
@@ -390,6 +399,9 @@ string validateNS(const char *ns, NamespaceDetails *d) {
 		ss << "\n  exception during validate\n" << endl; 
 	}
 
+	if( !valid ) 
+		ss << "  ns corrupt, requires dbchk\n";
+
 	return ss.str();
 }