diff --git a/src/components/structures/ErrorView.tsx b/src/components/structures/ErrorView.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..566a84808a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/structures/ErrorView.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2020 New Vector Ltd
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+import * as React from "react";
+import * as PropTypes from "prop-types";
+
+interface IProps {
+    title: React.ReactNode;
+    message: React.ReactNode;
+}
+
+const ErrorView: React.FC<IProps> = ({title, message}) => {
+    return <div className="mx_GenericErrorPage">
+        <div className="mx_GenericErrorPage_box">
+            <h1>{ title }</h1>
+            <p>{ message }</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>;
+};
+
+ErrorView.propTypes = {
+    title: PropTypes.object.isRequired, // jsx for title
+    message: PropTypes.object.isRequired, // jsx to display
+};
+
+export default ErrorView;
+
diff --git a/src/vector/app.js b/src/vector/app.js
index 12706d9026..d0acce6374 100644
--- a/src/vector/app.js
+++ b/src/vector/app.js
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ function onTokenLoginCompleted() {
     window.location.href = formatted;
 }
 
-export async function loadApp(fragParams: {}, acceptBrowser: boolean, configError: Error|void) {
+export async function loadApp(fragParams: {}, acceptBrowser: boolean) {
     // XXX: the way we pass the path to the worker script from webpack via html in body's dataset is a hack
     // but alternatives seem to require changing the interface to passing Workers to js-sdk
     const vectorIndexeddbWorkerScript = document.body.dataset.vectorIndexeddbWorkerScript;
@@ -146,36 +146,9 @@ export async function loadApp(fragParams: {}, acceptBrowser: boolean, configErro
 
     const params = parseQs(window.location);
 
-    // Now that we've loaded the theme (CSS), display the config syntax error if needed.
-    if (configError && configError.err && configError.err instanceof SyntaxError) {
-        const errorMessage = (
-            <div>
-                <p>
-                    {_t(
-                        "Your Riot configuration contains invalid JSON. Please correct the problem " +
-                        "and reload the page.",
-                    )}
-                </p>
-                <p>
-                    {_t(
-                        "The message from the parser is: %(message)s",
-                        {message: configError.err.message || _t("Invalid JSON")},
-                    )}
-                </p>
-            </div>
-        );
-
-        const GenericErrorPage = sdk.getComponent("structures.GenericErrorPage");
-        return <GenericErrorPage message={errorMessage} title={_t("Your Riot is misconfigured")} />;
-    }
-
     const urlWithoutQuery = window.location.protocol + '//' + window.location.host + window.location.pathname;
     console.log("Vector starting at " + urlWithoutQuery);
-    if (configError) {
-        return <div className="error">
-            Unable to load config file: please refresh the page to try again.
-        </div>;
-    } else if (acceptBrowser) {
+    if (acceptBrowser) {
         platform.startUpdater();
 
         try {
diff --git a/src/vector/index.ts b/src/vector/index.ts
index bd5de6bff7..27b48df885 100644
--- a/src/vector/index.ts
+++ b/src/vector/index.ts
@@ -97,6 +97,8 @@ async function start() {
         loadLanguage,
         loadTheme,
         loadApp,
+        showError,
+        _t,
     } = await import(
         /* webpackChunkName: "init" */
         /* webpackPreload: true */
@@ -130,12 +132,18 @@ async function start() {
         // load config requires the platform to be ready
         const loadConfigPromise = loadConfig();
 
-        let configError;
         try {
             // await config here
             await loadConfigPromise;
-        } catch (err) {
-            configError = err;
+        } catch (error) {
+            // Now that we've loaded the theme (CSS), display the config syntax error if needed.
+            if (error.err && error.err instanceof SyntaxError) {
+                return showError(_t("Your Riot is misconfigured"), [
+                    _t("Your Riot configuration contains invalid JSON. Please correct the problem and reload the page."),
+                    _t("The message from the parser is: %(message)s", { message: error.err.message || _t("Invalid JSON")}),
+                ]);
+            }
+            return showError(_t("Unable to load config file: please refresh the page to try again."));
         }
 
         // Load language after loading config.json so that settingsDefaults.language can be applied
@@ -150,9 +158,27 @@ async function start() {
         await loadThemePromise;
         await loadLanguagePromise;
 
-    // Finally, load the app. All of the other react-sdk imports are in this file which causes the skinner to
-    // run on the components.
-    await loadApp(fragparts.params, acceptBrowser, configError);
+        if (!acceptBrowser) {
+            await new Promise(resolve => {
+                // todo
+            });
+        }
+
+        // Finally, load the app. All of the other react-sdk imports are in this file which causes the skinner to
+        // run on the components.
+        await loadApp(fragparts.params, acceptBrowser);
+    } catch (err) {
+        console.trace(err);
+        // check errors in this order:
+        // Browser Compatibility (skippable)
+        // config.json
+        // runtime errors
+        const { showError } = await import(
+            /* webpackChunkName: "init" */
+            /* webpackPreload: true */
+            "./init");
+        await showError(err);
+    }
 }
 start().catch(err => {
     if (!acceptBrowser) {
diff --git a/src/vector/init.tsx b/src/vector/init.tsx
index a0fe3f4def..8e92935107 100644
--- a/src/vector/init.tsx
+++ b/src/vector/init.tsx
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 import olmWasmPath from "olm/olm.wasm";
 import Olm from 'olm';
 import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";
+import * as React from "react";
 
 import * as languageHandler from "matrix-react-sdk/src/languageHandler";
 import SettingsStore from "matrix-react-sdk/src/settings/SettingsStore";
@@ -134,12 +135,31 @@ export async function loadTheme() {
     setTheme();
 }
 
-export async function loadApp(fragParams: {}, acceptBrowser: boolean, configError: Error|void) {
+export async function loadApp(fragParams: {}, acceptBrowser: boolean) {
     // load app.js async so that its code is not executed immediately and we can catch any exceptions
     const module = await import(
         /* webpackChunkName: "riot-web-app" */
         /* webpackPreload: true */
         "./app");
-    window.matrixChat = ReactDOM.render(await module.loadApp(fragParams, acceptBrowser, configError),
+    window.matrixChat = ReactDOM.render(await module.loadApp(fragParams, acceptBrowser),
         document.getElementById('matrixchat'));
 }
+
+export async function showError(title: string, messages?: string[]) {
+    const ErrorView = (await import(
+        /* webpackChunkName: "error-view" */
+        /* webpackPreload: true */
+        "../components/structures/ErrorView")).default;
+    const message = <div>
+        {messages && messages.map(msg => <p key={msg}>
+            {languageHandler._t(
+                "Your Riot configuration contains invalid JSON. Please correct the problem and reload the page.",
+            )}
+        </p>)}
+    </div>;
+
+    window.matrixChat = ReactDOM.render(<ErrorView title={title} message={message} />,
+        document.getElementById('matrixchat'));
+}
+
+export const _t = languageHandler._t;