diff --git a/neurons/validator.py b/neurons/validator.py
index 7b502029..d3ee8da0 100644
--- a/neurons/validator.py
+++ b/neurons/validator.py
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ def __init__(self, config=None):
         super(Validator, self).__init__(config=config)
 
         bt.logging.info("load_state()")
-        self.load_state()
 
         # TODO(developer): Anything specific to your use case you can do here
 
diff --git a/template/base/neuron.py b/template/base/neuron.py
index ef2caf05..eb0a6542 100644
--- a/template/base/neuron.py
+++ b/template/base/neuron.py
@@ -99,6 +99,8 @@ def __init__(self, config=None):
         )
         self.step = 0
 
+        self.load_state()
+
     @abstractmethod
     async def forward(self, synapse: bt.Synapse) -> bt.Synapse:
         ...
diff --git a/template/base/validator.py b/template/base/validator.py
index ec069d47..00f592af 100644
--- a/template/base/validator.py
+++ b/template/base/validator.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 
 import copy
+import os
 import torch
 import asyncio
 import threading
@@ -339,8 +340,12 @@ def load_state(self):
         """Loads the state of the validator from a file."""
         bt.logging.info("Loading validator state.")
 
+        if not os.path.exists(self.config.neuron.full_path + "/state.pt"):
+            bt.logging.warning("No saved state found")
+            return
+
         # Load the state of the validator from file.
         state = torch.load(self.config.neuron.full_path + "/state.pt")
         self.step = state["step"]
-        self.scores = state["scores"]
+        self.scores = state["scores"].to(self.device)
         self.hotkeys = state["hotkeys"]