diff --git a/DynamicIsland/MediaControllers/NowPlayingController.swift b/DynamicIsland/MediaControllers/NowPlayingController.swift
index 4975bdf..1b863b7 100644
--- a/DynamicIsland/MediaControllers/NowPlayingController.swift
+++ b/DynamicIsland/MediaControllers/NowPlayingController.swift
@@ -166,6 +166,19 @@ final class NowPlayingController: ObservableObject, MediaControllerProtocol {
         
         let pipeHandler = JSONLinesPipeHandler()
         process.standardOutput = await pipeHandler.getPipe()
+
+        // Capture stderr so framework/script errors are logged
+        let stderrPipe = Pipe()
+        process.standardError = stderrPipe
+        stderrPipe.fileHandleForReading.readabilityHandler = { handle in
+            let data = handle.availableData
+            guard !data.isEmpty,
+                  let message = String(data: data, encoding: .utf8)?
+                    .trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines),
+                  !message.isEmpty
+            else { return }
+            print("NowPlayingController [stderr]: \(message)")
+        }
         
         self.process = process
         self.pipeHandler = pipeHandler
diff --git a/DynamicIsland/helpers/MediaChecker.swift b/DynamicIsland/helpers/MediaChecker.swift
index 8c23eeb..af40a1d 100644
--- a/DynamicIsland/helpers/MediaChecker.swift
+++ b/DynamicIsland/helpers/MediaChecker.swift
@@ -42,13 +42,23 @@ final class MediaChecker: Sendable {
 
         let nowPlayingTestClientPath =
             Bundle.main.bundleURL
-                .appendingPathComponent("Contents/Helpers/MediaRemoteAdapterTestClient")
+                .appendingPathComponent("Contents/Helpers/NowPlayingTestClient")
                 .path
 
+        guard FileManager.default.isExecutableFile(atPath: nowPlayingTestClientPath) else {
+            throw MediaCheckerError.missingResources
+        }
+
         let process = Process()
         process.executableURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: "/usr/bin/perl")
         process.arguments = [scriptURL.path, frameworkPath, nowPlayingTestClientPath, "test"]
 
+        // Capture stderr to distinguish script errors from genuine deprecation.
+        // The perl script's fail() and the framework's test function both exit
+        // with status 1, but only script-level failures write to stderr.
+        let stderrPipe = Pipe()
+        process.standardError = stderrPipe
+
         do {
             try process.run()
         } catch {
@@ -81,6 +91,18 @@ final class MediaChecker: Sendable {
             throw MediaCheckerError.timeout
         }
 
+        let stderrData = stderrPipe.fileHandleForReading.readDataToEndOfFile()
+        let stderrOutput = String(data: stderrData, encoding: .utf8)?.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines) ?? ""
+
+        // If the process exited with a non-zero status AND stderr contains
+        // output, a script-level error occurred (e.g. framework failed to load,
+        // symbol not found). Treat this as an execution failure rather than
+        // reporting deprecated, since perl's fail() also uses exit(1).
+        if process.terminationStatus != 0, !stderrOutput.isEmpty {
+            print("MediaChecker: script error (exit \(process.terminationStatus)): \(stderrOutput)")
+            throw MediaCheckerError.processExecutionFailed
+        }
+
         let isDeprecated = process.terminationStatus == 1
         return isDeprecated
     }