diff --git a/.github/actions/checkout-with-submodule-lfs/action.yml b/.github/actions/checkout-with-submodule-lfs/action.yml
index 498bfccac0d..bda1986295a 100644
--- a/.github/actions/checkout-with-submodule-lfs/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/checkout-with-submodule-lfs/action.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,14 @@ inputs:
 runs:
   using: "composite"
   steps:
+    - name: Clean repo (if it exists)
+      shell: bash
+      run: |
+        if [ -d ".git" ]; then
+          git clean -xffd
+          find .git -type f -iname '*.lock' -delete
+          git submodule deinit -f --all
+        fi
     - name: Checkout repo
       uses: actions/checkout@v4
       with:
@@ -22,9 +30,6 @@ runs:
         lfs: true
         submodules: recursive
         clean: true
-    - name: Clean repo
-      shell: bash
-      run: git clean -xffd
     - name: Clean each submodule
       shell: bash
       run: git submodule foreach 'git clean -xffd'
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-docker-artifact.yaml b/.github/workflows/build-docker-artifact.yaml
index dd4a966de10..ec98fb1fec3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-docker-artifact.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-docker-artifact.yaml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ jobs:
       - build-docker
       - in-service
     steps:
-      - uses: tenstorrent/tt-metal/.github/actions/checkout-with-submodule-lfs@main
+      - uses: tenstorrent/tt-metal/.github/actions/checkout-with-submodule-lfs@afuller/debug
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
       - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yaml b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
index ea4099d13c9..c30eda83113 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ jobs:
             echo "::error title=ccache-not-provisioned::Ccache is not properly provisioned."
             exit 1
           fi
-      - uses: tenstorrent/tt-metal/.github/actions/checkout-with-submodule-lfs@main
+      - uses: tenstorrent/tt-metal/.github/actions/checkout-with-submodule-lfs@afuller/debug
       - name: Set up dynamic env vars for build
         run: |
           echo "TT_METAL_HOME=$(pwd)" >> $GITHUB_ENV