diff --git a/internal/services/configstore/readdb/readdb.go b/internal/services/configstore/readdb/readdb.go
index 098e1b5..005c3a7 100644
--- a/internal/services/configstore/readdb/readdb.go
+++ b/internal/services/configstore/readdb/readdb.go
@@ -351,15 +351,10 @@ func (r *ReadDB) SyncRDB(ctx context.Context) error {
 	r.log.Debugf("firstAvailableWalData: %s", util.Dump(firstAvailableWalData))
 	r.log.Debugf("revision: %d", revision)
 	if firstAvailableWalData == nil {
-		if curWalSeq != "" {
-			// this happens if etcd has been reset
-			return errors.Errorf("our curwalseq is %q but there's no wal data on etcd", curWalSeq)
-		}
+		return errors.Errorf("no wal data in etcd")
 	}
-	if firstAvailableWalData != nil {
-		if curWalSeq < firstAvailableWalData.WalSequence {
-			return errors.Errorf("current applied wal seq %q is smaller than the first available wal on etcd %q", curWalSeq, firstAvailableWalData.WalSequence)
-		}
+	if curWalSeq < firstAvailableWalData.WalSequence {
+		return errors.Errorf("current applied wal seq %q is smaller than the first available wal in etcd %q", curWalSeq, firstAvailableWalData.WalSequence)
 	}
 
 	r.log.Infof("syncing from wals")
diff --git a/internal/services/runservice/readdb/readdb.go b/internal/services/runservice/readdb/readdb.go
index 4f98696..1974cd6 100644
--- a/internal/services/runservice/readdb/readdb.go
+++ b/internal/services/runservice/readdb/readdb.go
@@ -591,15 +591,10 @@ func (r *ReadDB) SyncObjectStorage(ctx context.Context) error {
 	r.log.Debugf("firstAvailableWalData: %s", util.Dump(firstAvailableWalData))
 	r.log.Debugf("revision: %d", revision)
 	if firstAvailableWalData == nil {
-		if curWalSeq != "" {
-			// this happens if etcd has been reset
-			return errors.Errorf("our curwalseq is %q but there's no wal data on etcd", curWalSeq)
-		}
+		return errors.Errorf("no wal data in etcd")
 	}
-	if firstAvailableWalData != nil {
-		if curWalSeq < firstAvailableWalData.WalSequence {
-			return errors.Errorf("current applied wal seq %q is smaller than the first available wal on etcd %q", curWalSeq, firstAvailableWalData.WalSequence)
-		}
+	if curWalSeq < firstAvailableWalData.WalSequence {
+		return errors.Errorf("current applied wal seq %q is smaller than the first available wal in etcd %q", curWalSeq, firstAvailableWalData.WalSequence)
 	}
 
 	r.log.Infof("syncing from wals")