diff --git a/s3stream/src/main/java/com/automq/stream/s3/S3Storage.java b/s3stream/src/main/java/com/automq/stream/s3/S3Storage.java
index a3da6bf38a..6c2b14f648 100644
--- a/s3stream/src/main/java/com/automq/stream/s3/S3Storage.java
+++ b/s3stream/src/main/java/com/automq/stream/s3/S3Storage.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 import com.automq.stream.s3.cache.S3BlockCache;
 import com.automq.stream.s3.context.AppendContext;
 import com.automq.stream.s3.context.FetchContext;
+import com.automq.stream.s3.failover.Failover;
 import com.automq.stream.s3.metadata.StreamMetadata;
 import com.automq.stream.s3.metrics.S3StreamMetricsManager;
 import com.automq.stream.s3.metrics.TimerUtil;
@@ -262,17 +263,25 @@ public void startup() {
      * Upload WAL to S3 and close opening streams.
      */
     public void recover() throws Throwable {
+        this.deltaWAL.start();
         recover0(this.deltaWAL, this.streamManager, this.objectManager, LOGGER);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Be called by {@link Failover} to recover from crash.
+     * Note: {@link WriteAheadLog#start()} should be called before this method.
+     */
     public void recover(WriteAheadLog deltaWAL, StreamManager streamManager, ObjectManager objectManager,
         Logger logger) throws Throwable {
         recover0(deltaWAL, streamManager, objectManager, logger);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Recover WAL, upload WAL to S3 and close opening streams.
+     * Note: {@link WriteAheadLog#start()} should be called before this method.
+     */
     void recover0(WriteAheadLog deltaWAL, StreamManager streamManager, ObjectManager objectManager,
         Logger logger) throws Throwable {
-        deltaWAL.start();
         List<StreamMetadata> streams = streamManager.getOpeningStreams().get();
 
         LogCache.LogCacheBlock cacheBlock = recoverContinuousRecords(deltaWAL.recover(), streams, logger);
diff --git a/s3stream/src/main/java/com/automq/stream/s3/wal/BlockWALService.java b/s3stream/src/main/java/com/automq/stream/s3/wal/BlockWALService.java
index 0691f8eb9a..d13bfd58d7 100644
--- a/s3stream/src/main/java/com/automq/stream/s3/wal/BlockWALService.java
+++ b/s3stream/src/main/java/com/automq/stream/s3/wal/BlockWALService.java
@@ -263,6 +263,10 @@ private void parseRecordBody(long recoverStartOffset, SlidingWindowService.Recor
 
     @Override
     public WriteAheadLog start() throws IOException {
+        if (started.get()) {
+            LOGGER.warn("block WAL service already started");
+            return this;
+        }
         StopWatch stopWatch = StopWatch.createStarted();
 
         walChannel.open(channel -> Optional.ofNullable(tryReadWALHeader(walChannel))
@@ -381,6 +385,7 @@ public void shutdownGracefully() {
 
     @Override
     public WALMetadata metadata() {
+        checkStarted();
         return new WALMetadata(walHeader.getNodeId(), walHeader.getEpoch());
     }