diff --git a/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml b/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml
index d45321c820bee264b037f4aeafaf39da56255094..9aab512aa69c8072656ed2f331c516e84169a567 100644
--- a/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml
+++ b/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@ packages:
 
   hdf5:
     prefer:
-    - spec: '+mpi'
     - spec: '@1.14.3'
     require:
     - spec: '+hl +threadsafe +szip +cxx +fortran'
diff --git a/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml b/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml
index d1f8d409d6c647c2c1ebee7e202491db2761bfd2..533d149c8d95f0c7ada8edf9596c92a464bedf28 100644
--- a/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml
+++ b/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ spack:
         - py-pandas
         - py-pybigwig
         - py-xarray
-        - valgrind
+        - valgrind ~~mpi
 
     - gcc_python_codes:
         - blast-plus
@@ -216,14 +216,14 @@ spack:
         - xgboost
 
     - gcc_python_blas_codes:
-        - caffe +python
+        - caffe +python ^hdf5~mpi
         - gdb +tui +source-highlight +xz
         - openbabel ++python ^boost ~~mpi
         - polymake ^cddlib@0.94h
         - py-cryolobm
         - py-deeptools
         - py-h5py ~~mpi
-        - py-pymol
+        - py-pymol ^hdf5~mpi
         - py-scikit-learn
         - py-scipy
         #- py-statsmodels