diff --git a/t/t3000-mpi-basic.t b/t/t3000-mpi-basic.t
index c335ed4f30bc..f81983e4bb40 100755
--- a/t/t3000-mpi-basic.t
+++ b/t/t3000-mpi-basic.t
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ if ! test -x ${HELLO}; then
     test_done
 fi
 
+# work around https://github.com/open-mpi/ompi/issues/7701 and similar in mpich
+export HWLOC_COMPONENTS=-gl
 export TEST_UNDER_FLUX_CORES_PER_RANK=4
 SIZE=2
 MAX_MPI_SIZE=$(($SIZE*$TEST_UNDER_FLUX_CORES_PER_RANK))
diff --git a/t/t3003-mpi-abort.t b/t/t3003-mpi-abort.t
index 3d3bc335367f..c3e9a116878e 100755
--- a/t/t3003-mpi-abort.t
+++ b/t/t3003-mpi-abort.t
@@ -33,11 +33,13 @@ if ! test -x ${FLUX_BUILD_DIR}/t/mpi/abort; then
     test_done
 fi
 
+# work around https://github.com/open-mpi/ompi/issues/7701 and similar in mpich
+export HWLOC_COMPONENTS=-gl
 export TEST_UNDER_FLUX_CORES_PER_RANK=4
 SIZE=2
 MAX_MPI_SIZE=$(($SIZE*$TEST_UNDER_FLUX_CORES_PER_RANK))
 test_under_flux $SIZE job
-
+set -x
 OPTS="-ocpu-affinity=off"
 
 diag() {