diff --git a/scripts/qemu.py b/scripts/qemu.py
index f80b008..8d3d24d 100644
--- a/scripts/qemu.py
+++ b/scripts/qemu.py
@@ -13,12 +13,22 @@
 #
 
 import errno
+import logging
 import os
 import sys
 import subprocess
 import qmp.qmp
 
 
+LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class QEMUMachineError(Exception):
+    """
+    Exception called when an error in QEMUMachine happens.
+    """
+
+
 class MonitorResponseError(qmp.qmp.QMPError):
     '''
     Represents erroneous QMP monitor reply
@@ -107,18 +117,21 @@
         # In iotest.py, the qmp should always use unix socket.
         assert self._qmp.is_scm_available()
         if self._socket_scm_helper is None:
-            print >>sys.stderr, "No path to socket_scm_helper set"
-            return -1
+            raise QEMUMachineError("No path to socket_scm_helper set")
         if not os.path.exists(self._socket_scm_helper):
-            print >>sys.stderr, "%s does not exist" % self._socket_scm_helper
-            return -1
+            raise QEMUMachineError("%s does not exist" %
+                                   self._socket_scm_helper)
         fd_param = ["%s" % self._socket_scm_helper,
                     "%d" % self._qmp.get_sock_fd(),
                     "%s" % fd_file_path]
         devnull = open('/dev/null', 'rb')
-        proc = subprocess.Popen(fd_param, stdin=devnull, stdout=sys.stdout,
-                                stderr=sys.stderr)
-        return proc.wait()
+        proc = subprocess.Popen(fd_param, stdin=devnull, stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+        output = proc.communicate()[0]
+        if output:
+            LOG.debug(output)
+
+        return proc.returncode
 
     @staticmethod
     def _remove_if_exists(path):
@@ -202,8 +215,8 @@
 
             exitcode = self._popen.wait()
             if exitcode < 0:
-                sys.stderr.write('qemu received signal %i: %s\n'
-                                 % (-exitcode, ' '.join(self._args)))
+                LOG.warn('qemu received signal %i: %s', -exitcode,
+                          ' '.join(self._args))
             self._load_io_log()
             self._post_shutdown()