diff --git a/lib/Ravada.pm b/lib/Ravada.pm
index 04d093573..40d933ed2 100644
--- a/lib/Ravada.pm
+++ b/lib/Ravada.pm
@@ -747,7 +747,12 @@ sub _init_config {
     my $connector = shift;
     confess "Deprecated connector" if $connector;
 
-    $CONFIG = YAML::LoadFile($file);
+    die "ERROR: Missing config file $file\n"
+        if !-e $file;
+
+    eval { $CONFIG = YAML::LoadFile($file) };
+
+    die "ERROR: Format error in config file $file\n$@"  if $@;
 
     $LIMIT_PROCESS = $CONFIG->{limit_process} 
         if $CONFIG->{limit_process} && $CONFIG->{limit_process}>1;
diff --git a/t/05_ravada.t b/t/05_ravada.t
index 136d66077..0fe91d2b3 100644
--- a/t/05_ravada.t
+++ b/t/05_ravada.t
@@ -16,4 +16,16 @@ ok($Ravada::CONNECTOR, "Now we should have a DB connector ");
 ok($Ravada::CONNECTOR,"No connector defined ");
 eval { ok($Ravada::CONNECTOR->dbh,"No dbh defined ") };
 
+eval {
+    my $config_err = "t/etc/ravada_miss.conf";
+    my $rvd_err = Ravada->new( connector => $test->connector, config => $config_err);
+};
+like($@,qr/Missing config file/);
+
+eval {
+    my $config_err = "t/etc/ravada_err.conf";
+    my $rvd_err = Ravada->new( connector => $test->connector, config => $config_err);
+};
+like($@,qr/Format error/);
+
 done_testing();