diff --git a/base.php b/base.php
index 46b7a77..350ca34 100644
--- a/base.php
+++ b/base.php
@@ -889,15 +889,23 @@ abstract class Base
     public static function getDbFileName ($database = NULL) {
         return self::getDbDirectory ($database) .'metadata.db';
     }
+    
+    private static function error () {
+        header("location: checkconfig.php?err=1");
+        exit();
+    }
 
     public static function getDb ($database = NULL) {
         global $config;
         if (is_null (self::$db)) {
             try {
-                self::$db = new PDO('sqlite:'. self::getDbFileName ($database));
+                if (file_exists (self::getDbFileName ($database))) {
+                    self::$db = new PDO('sqlite:'. self::getDbFileName ($database));
+                } else {
+                    self::error ();
+                }
             } catch (Exception $e) {
-                header("location: checkconfig.php?err=1");
-                exit();
+                self::error ();
             }
         }
         return self::$db;
diff --git a/checkconfig.php b/checkconfig.php
index 57f97a7..aac84bc 100644
--- a/checkconfig.php
+++ b/checkconfig.php
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ Please check
             }
             ?>
         </article>
+    <?php if (is_readable (Base::getDbFileName ($i))) { ?>
         <article class="frontpage">
             <h2>Check if Calibre database file can be opened with PHP</h2>
             <h4>
@@ -182,6 +183,7 @@ Please check
             </h4>
         </article>
         <?php } ?>
+    <?php } ?>
 <?php $i++; } ?>
     </section>
     <footer></footer>
diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index f9070d0..4dcea57 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@
         exit ();
     }
     
+    // Access the database ASAP to be sure it's readable, redirect if that's not the case.
+    // It has to be done before any header is sent.
+    $test = Base::getDb ();
+    
     header ("Content-Type:text/html;charset=utf-8");
     $page = getURLParam ("page", Base::PAGE_INDEX);
     $query = getURLParam ("query");