diff --git a/boot.php b/boot.php
index b1c378d344..c21cefa184 100644
--- a/boot.php
+++ b/boot.php
@@ -653,8 +653,31 @@ function check_config(&$a) {
 
 						// call the specific update
 
+						global $db; 
+						try {
+						$db->beginTransaction();  
 						$func = 'update_' . $x;
 						$func($a);
+						$db->commit(); 
+						} catch(Exception $ex) {
+							$db->rollback(); 
+							//send the administrator an e-mail
+							$email_tpl = get_intltext_template("update_fail_eml.tpl");
+		$email_tpl = replace_macros($email_tpl, array(
+				'$sitename' => $a->config['sitename'],
+				'$siteurl' =>  $a->get_baseurl(),
+				'$update' => $x,
+				'$error' => $ex->getMessage());
+							$subject=sprintf(t('Update Error at %s'), $a->get_baseurl()); 
+							
+							mail($email, $subject, $text, 
+				'From: ' . t('Administrator') . '@' . $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] . "\n"
+				. 'Content-type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8' . "\n"
+				. 'Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit' );
+				//try the logger
+				logger('update failed: '.$ex->getMessage().EOL); 
+						}
+						
 					}
 				}
 				set_config('system','build', DB_UPDATE_VERSION);
diff --git a/include/dba.php b/include/dba.php
index 76cc0bc7b9..cbf5922a79 100644
--- a/include/dba.php
+++ b/include/dba.php
@@ -8,189 +8,245 @@ require_once('include/datetime.php');
  *
  * For debugging, insert 'dbg(1);' anywhere in the program flow.
  * dbg(0); will turn it off. Logging is performed at LOGGER_DATA level.
- * When logging, all binary info is converted to text and html entities are escaped so that 
- * the debugging stream is safe to view within both terminals and web pages.
+ * When logging, all binary info is converted to
+ * text and html entities are escaped so that
+ * the debugging stream is safe to view
+ * within both terminals and web pages.
  *
  */
- 
-if(! class_exists('dba')) { 
-class dba {
 
-	private $debug = 0;
-	private $db;
-	public  $mysqli = true;
-	public  $connected = false;
-	public  $error = false;
+if(! class_exists('dba')) {
 
-	function __construct($server,$user,$pass,$db,$install = false) {
+	class dba {
 
-		$server = trim($server);
-		$user = trim($user);
-		$pass = trim($pass);
-		$db = trim($db);
+		private $debug = 0;
+		private $db;
+		public  $mysqli = true;
+		public  $connected = false;
+		public  $error = false;
 
-		if (!(strlen($server) && strlen($user))){
-			$this->connected = false;
-			$this->db = null;
-			return;			
-		}
-		
-		if($install) {
-			if(strlen($server) && ($server !== 'localhost') && ($server !== '127.0.0.1')) {
-				if(! dns_get_record($server, DNS_A + DNS_CNAME + DNS_PTR)) {
-					$this->error = sprintf( t('Cannot locate DNS info for database server \'%s\''), $server);
-					$this->connected = false;
-					$this->db = null;
-					return;
+		function __construct($server,$user,$pass,$db,$install = false) {
+
+			$server = trim($server);
+			$user = trim($user);
+			$pass = trim($pass);
+			$db = trim($db);
+
+			//we need both, server and username, so fail if one is missing
+			if (!(strlen($server) && strlen($user))){
+				$this->connected = false;
+				$this->db = null;
+				throw new InvalidArgumentException(t("Server name of user name are missing. "));
+			}
+
+			//when we are installing
+			if($install) {
+				if(strlen($server) && ($server !== 'localhost') && ($server !== '127.0.0.1')) {
+					if(! dns_get_record($server, DNS_A + DNS_CNAME + DNS_PTR)) {
+						$this->connected = false;
+						$this->db = null;
+						throw new InvalidArgumentException( t('Cannot locate DNS info for database server \'%s\''), $server);
+					}
+				}
+			}
+
+			if(class_exists('mysqli')) {
+				$this->db = new mysqli($server,$user,$pass,$db);
+				if(NULL === $this->db->connect_error()) {
+					$this->connected = true;
+				} else {
+					throw new RuntimeException($this->db->connect_error());
+				}
+			} else {
+				$this->mysqli = false;
+				$this->db = mysql_connect($server,$user,$pass);
+				if($this->db && mysql_select_db($db,$this->db)) {
+					$this->connected = true;
+				} else {
+					throw new RuntimeException(mysql_error());
 				}
 			}
 		}
 
-		if(class_exists('mysqli')) {
-			$this->db = @new mysqli($server,$user,$pass,$db);
-			if(! mysqli_connect_errno()) {
-				$this->connected = true;
+		public function getdb() {
+			return $this->db;
+		}
+
+		public function q($sql) {
+
+			if((! $this->db) || (! $this->connected)) {
+				throw new RuntimeException(t("There is no db connection. "));
 			}
-		}
-		else {
-			$this->mysqli = false;
-			$this->db = mysql_connect($server,$user,$pass);
-			if($this->db && mysql_select_db($db,$this->db)) {
-				$this->connected = true;
-			}
-		}
-		if(! $this->connected) {
-			$this->db = null;
-			if(! $install)
-				system_unavailable();
-		}
-	}
-
-	public function getdb() {
-		return $this->db;
-	}
-
-	public function q($sql) {
-		
-		if((! $this->db) || (! $this->connected))
-			return false;
-		
-		if($this->mysqli)
-			$result = @$this->db->query($sql);
-		else
-			$result = @mysql_query($sql,$this->db);
-
-		if($this->debug) {
-
-			$mesg = '';
 
 			if($this->mysqli) {
-				if($this->db->errno)
-					logger('dba: ' . $this->db->error);
+				$result = $this->db->query($sql);
+			} else {
+				$result = mysql_query($sql,$this->db);
 			}
-			elseif(mysql_errno($this->db))
-				logger('dba: ' . mysql_error($this->db));
 
-			if($result === false)
-				$mesg = 'false';
-			elseif($result === true)
-				$mesg = 'true';
-			else {
-				if($this->mysqli)
-					$mesg = $result->num_rows . ' results' . EOL;
-    			else
-					$mesg = mysql_num_rows($result) . ' results' . EOL;
+			//on debug mode or fail, the query is written to the log.
+			//this won't work if logger can not read it's logging level
+			//from the db.
+			if($this->debug || FALSE === $result) {
+
+				$mesg = '';
+
+				if($result === false) {
+					$mesg = 'false '.$this->error();
+				} elseif($result === true) {
+					$mesg = 'true';
+				} else {
+					if($this->mysqli) {
+						$mesg = $result->num_rows . t(' results') . EOL;
+					} else {
+						$mesg = mysql_num_rows($result) . t(' results') . EOL;
+					}
+				}
+
+				$str =  'SQL = ' . printable($sql) . EOL . t('SQL returned ') . $mesg . EOL;
+
+
+			 // If dbfail.out exists, we will write any failed calls directly to it,
+			 // regardless of any logging that may or may nor be in effect.
+			 // These usually indicate SQL syntax errors that need to be resolved.
+				if(file_exists('dbfail.out')) {
+					file_put_contents('dbfail.out', datetime_convert() . "\n" . $str . "\n", FILE_APPEND);
+				}
+				logger('dba: ' . $str );
+				if(FALSE===$result) {
+					throw new RuntimeException('dba: ' . $str);
+				}
 			}
-    
-			$str =  'SQL = ' . printable($sql) . EOL . 'SQL returned ' . $mesg . EOL;
+				
 
-			logger('dba: ' . $str );
+			if($result === true) {
+				return $result;
+			}
+
+			$r = array();
+			if($this->mysqli) {
+				if($result->num_rows) {
+					while($x = $result->fetch_array(MYSQLI_ASSOC)) {
+						$r[] = $x;
+					}
+					$result->free_result();
+				}
+			} else {
+				if(mysql_num_rows($result)) {
+					while($x = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
+						$r[] = $x;
+					}
+					mysql_free_result($result);
+				}
+			}
+
+
+			if($this->debug) {
+				logger('dba: ' . printable(print_r($r, true)));
+			}
+			return($r);
 		}
 
-		/**
-		 * If dbfail.out exists, we will write any failed calls directly to it,
-		 * regardless of any logging that may or may nor be in effect.
-		 * These usually indicate SQL syntax errors that need to be resolved.
-		 */
-
-		if($result === false) {
-			logger('dba: ' . printable($sql) . ' returned false.');
-			if(file_exists('dbfail.out'))
-				file_put_contents('dbfail.out', datetime_convert() . "\n" . printable($sql) . ' returned false' . "\n", FILE_APPEND);
-		}
-
-		if(($result === true) || ($result === false))
-			return $result;
-
-		$r = array();
-		if($this->mysqli) {
-			if($result->num_rows) {
-				while($x = $result->fetch_array(MYSQLI_ASSOC))
-					$r[] = $x;
-				$result->free_result();
+		private function error() {
+			if($this->mysqli) {
+				return $this->db->error;
+			} else {
+				return mysql_error($this->db);
 			}
 		}
-		else {
-			if(mysql_num_rows($result)) {
-				while($x = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC))
-					$r[] = $x;
-				mysql_free_result($result);
+		
+		public function beginTransaction() {
+			if($this->mysqli) {
+				return $this->db->autocommit(false);
+			} else {
+				//no transaction support in mysql module...
+				mysql_query('SET AUTOCOMMIT = 0;', $db); 
+			}
+		}
+		
+		public function rollback() {
+			if($this->mysqli) {
+				return $this->db->rollback();
+			} else {
+				//no transaction support in mysql module...
+				mysql_query('ROLLBACK;', $db);
+			}
+			$this->stopTransaction(); 
+		}
+
+		public function commit() {
+			if($this->mysqli) {
+				return $this->db->commit();
+			} else {
+				//no transaction support in mysql module...
+				mysql_query('COMMIT;', $db);
+			}
+			$this->stopTransaction();
+		}
+		
+		private function stopTransaction() {
+			if($this->mysqli) {
+				return $this->db->autocommit(true);
+			} else {
+				//no transaction support in mysql module...
+				mysql_query('SET AUTOCOMMIT = 1;', $db);
+			}
+		}
+		
+		public function dbg($dbg) {
+			$this->debug = $dbg;
+		}
+
+		public function escape($str) {
+			if($this->db && $this->connected) {
+				if($this->mysqli) {
+					return $this->db->real_escape_string($str);
+				} else {
+					return mysql_real_escape_string($str,$this->db);
+				}
 			}
 		}
 
-    
-		if($this->debug)
-			logger('dba: ' . printable(print_r($r, true)));
-		return($r);
-	}
-
-	public function dbg($dbg) {
-		$this->debug = $dbg;
-	}
-
-	public function escape($str) {
-		if($this->db && $this->connected) {
-			if($this->mysqli)
-				return @$this->db->real_escape_string($str);
-			else
-				return @mysql_real_escape_string($str,$this->db);
-		}
-	}
-
-	function __destruct() {
-		if ($this->db) 
-			if($this->mysqli)
-				$this->db->close();
-			else
+		function __destruct() {
+			if ($this->db) {
+				if($this->mysqli) {
+					$this->db->close();
+				}
+			} else {
 				mysql_close($this->db);
+			}
+		}
 	}
-}}
+}
 
 if(! function_exists('printable')) {
-function printable($s) {
-	$s = preg_replace("~([\x01-\x08\x0E-\x0F\x10-\x1F\x7F-\xFF])~",".", $s);
-	$s = str_replace("\x00",'.',$s);
-	if(x($_SERVER,'SERVER_NAME'))
-		$s = escape_tags($s);
-	return $s;
-}}
+	function printable($s) {
+		$s = preg_replace("~([\x01-\x08\x0E-\x0F\x10-\x1F\x7F-\xFF])~",".", $s);
+		$s = str_replace("\x00",'.',$s);
+		if(x($_SERVER,'SERVER_NAME'))
+			$s = escape_tags($s);
+		return $s;
+	}
+}
 
 // Procedural functions
-if(! function_exists('dbg')) { 
-function dbg($state) {
-	global $db;
-	if($db)
-	$db->dbg($state);
-}}
+if(! function_exists('dbg')) {
+	function dbg($state) {
+		global $db;
+		if($db)
+			$db->dbg($state);
+	}
+}
 
-if(! function_exists('dbesc')) { 
-function dbesc($str) {
-	global $db;
-	if($db && $db->connected)
-		return($db->escape($str));
-	else
-		return(str_replace("'","\\'",$str));
-}}
+if(! function_exists('dbesc')) {
+	function dbesc($str) {
+		global $db;
+		if($db && $db->connected)
+			return($db->escape($str));
+		else
+			return(str_replace("'","\\'",$str));
+	}
+}
 
 
 
@@ -199,30 +255,31 @@ function dbesc($str) {
 // Example: $r = q("SELECT * FROM `%s` WHERE `uid` = %d",
 //                   'user', 1);
 
-if(! function_exists('q')) { 
-function q($sql) {
+if(! function_exists('q')) {
+	function q($sql) {
 
-	global $db;
-	$args = func_get_args();
-	unset($args[0]);
+		global $db;
+		$args = func_get_args();
+		unset($args[0]);
+
+		if($db && $db->connected) {
+			$stmt = vsprintf($sql,$args);
+			if($stmt === false)
+				logger('dba: vsprintf error: ' . print_r(debug_backtrace(),true));
+			return $db->q($stmt);
+		}
+
+		/**
+		 *
+		 * This will happen occasionally trying to store the
+		 * session data after abnormal program termination
+		 *
+		 */
+		logger('dba: no database: ' . print_r($args,true));
+		return false;
 
-	if($db && $db->connected) {
-		$stmt = vsprintf($sql,$args);
-		if($stmt === false)
-			logger('dba: vsprintf error: ' . print_r(debug_backtrace(),true));
-		return $db->q($stmt);
 	}
-
-	/**
-	 *
-	 * This will happen occasionally trying to store the 
-	 * session data after abnormal program termination 
-	 *
-	 */
-	logger('dba: no database: ' . print_r($args,true));
-	return false; 
-
-}}
+}
 
 /**
  *
@@ -230,36 +287,39 @@ function q($sql) {
  *
  */
 
-if(! function_exists('dbq')) { 
-function dbq($sql) {
+if(! function_exists('dbq')) {
+	function dbq($sql) {
 
-	global $db;
-	if($db && $db->connected)
-		$ret = $db->q($sql);
-	else
-		$ret = false;
-	return $ret;
-}}
+		global $db;
+		if($db && $db->connected)
+			$ret = $db->q($sql);
+		else
+			$ret = false;
+		return $ret;
+	}
+}
 
 
-// Caller is responsible for ensuring that any integer arguments to 
+// Caller is responsible for ensuring that any integer arguments to
 // dbesc_array are actually integers and not malformed strings containing
-// SQL injection vectors. All integer array elements should be specifically 
-// cast to int to avoid trouble. 
+// SQL injection vectors. All integer array elements should be specifically
+// cast to int to avoid trouble.
 
 
 if(! function_exists('dbesc_array_cb')) {
-function dbesc_array_cb(&$item, $key) {
-	if(is_string($item))
-		$item = dbesc($item);
-}}
+	function dbesc_array_cb(&$item, $key) {
+		if(is_string($item))
+			$item = dbesc($item);
+	}
+}
 
 
 if(! function_exists('dbesc_array')) {
-function dbesc_array(&$arr) {
-	if(is_array($arr) && count($arr)) {
-		array_walk($arr,'dbesc_array_cb');
+	function dbesc_array(&$arr) {
+		if(is_array($arr) && count($arr)) {
+			array_walk($arr,'dbesc_array_cb');
+		}
 	}
-}}		
+}
 
 
diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index 1cb16778a6..0cf74365c6 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
  * bootstrap the application
  *
  */
+try {
 
 require_once('boot.php');
 
@@ -370,3 +371,9 @@ else
 
 session_write_close();
 exit;
+} catch(Exception $ex) {
+// it may fail because logger uses the db, 
+// but give it a try: 
+logger('exception caught at index.php: '.$ex->getMessage()); 
+system_unavailable(); 
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/view/de/strings.php b/view/de/strings.php
index 28567396bb..5339d8a12b 100644
--- a/view/de/strings.php
+++ b/view/de/strings.php
@@ -1511,3 +1511,4 @@ $a->strings["[today]"] = "[heute]";
 $a->strings["Event Reminders"] = "Veranstaltungserinnerungen";
 $a->strings["Events this week:"] = "Veranstaltungen diese Woche";
 $a->strings["[No description]"] = "[keine Beschreibung]";
+$a->strings['Update Error at %s'] = 'Fehler beim Updaten von %s'; 
diff --git a/view/de/update_fail_eml.tpl b/view/de/update_fail_eml.tpl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..26be1786fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/view/de/update_fail_eml.tpl
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+Hey, 
+Ich bin's,  $sitename.   
+Die Friendica-Entwickler haben gerade Update $update freigegeben, 
+aber als ich es installieren wollte, ist irgendetwas schief gegangen.  
+Das sollte schnell repariert werden und alleine schaffe ich es nicht. 
+Wende dich bitte an einen Friendica-Entwickler, wenn du mir nicht selbst helfen kannst. 
+Meine Datenbank könnte ziemlich durcheinander sein. 
+
+Die Fehlermeldung ist '$error'.   
+
+Tut mir leid, 
+dein Friendica Server unter $siteurl
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/view/update_fail_eml.tpl b/view/update_fail_eml.tpl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f68a3dece1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/view/update_fail_eml.tpl
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+Hey, 
+I'm $sitename.   
+The friendica developers released update $update recently, 
+but when I tried to install it, something went terribly wrong.  
+This needs to be fixed soon and I can't do it alone. Please contact a 
+friendica developer if you can not help me on your own. My database might be invalid. 
+
+The error message is '$error'.   
+
+I'm sorry, 
+your friendica server at $siteurl
\ No newline at end of file