diff --git a/ykval-config.php b/ykval-config.php
index 4ed16e8..fda083a 100644
--- a/ykval-config.php
+++ b/ykval-config.php
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ $baseParams = array ();
 $baseParams['__YKVAL_DB_DSN__'] = "mysql:dbname=ykval;host=127.0.0.1";
 $baseParams['__YKVAL_DB_USER__'] = 'ykval_verifier';
 $baseParams['__YKVAL_DB_PW__'] = 'lab';
-$baseParams['__YKVAL_DB_OPTIONS__'] = array();
+$baseParams['__YKVAL_DB_OPTIONS__'] = array(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
 
 # For the validation server sync
 $baseParams['__YKVAL_SYNC_POOL__'] = array("http://api2.example.com/wsapi/2.0/sync", 
diff --git a/ykval-db.php b/ykval-db.php
index b133149..106c4c4 100644
--- a/ykval-db.php
+++ b/ykval-db.php
@@ -104,12 +104,17 @@ class Db
   }
 
   private function query($query, $returnresult=false) {
-    if($this->dbh) {
+    if(!$this->isConnected()) {
+      $this->connect();
+    }
+    if($this->isConnected()) {
       $this->myLog->log(LOG_DEBUG, 'DB query is: ' . $query);
       
-      $this->result = $this->dbh->query($query);
-      if (! $this->result){
+      try {
+	$this->result = $this->dbh->query($query);
+      } catch (PDOException $e) {
 	$this->myLog->log(LOG_INFO, 'Database query error: ' . preg_replace('/\n/',' ',print_r($this->dbh->errorInfo(), true)));
+	$this->dbh = Null;
 	return false;
       }
       if ($returnresult) return $this->result;