diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/metadata_resolver.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/metadata_resolver.ts
index fc26623085..7b6244ee43 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/metadata_resolver.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/metadata_resolver.ts
@@ -14,9 +14,8 @@ import {assertArrayOfStrings, assertInterpolationSymbols} from './assertions';
 import * as cpl from './compile_metadata';
 import {DirectiveNormalizer} from './directive_normalizer';
 import {DirectiveResolver} from './directive_resolver';
-import {ListWrapper, StringMapWrapper} from './facade/collection';
-import {isBlank, isPresent, stringify} from './facade/lang';
-import {Identifiers, createIdentifierToken, resolveIdentifier} from './identifiers';
+import {stringify} from './facade/lang';
+import {Identifiers, resolveIdentifier} from './identifiers';
 import {CompilerInjectable} from './injectable';
 import {hasLifecycleHook} from './lifecycle_reflector';
 import {NgModuleResolver} from './ng_module_resolver';
@@ -25,7 +24,7 @@ import {ComponentStillLoadingError, LIFECYCLE_HOOKS_VALUES, ReflectorReader, ref
 import {ElementSchemaRegistry} from './schema/element_schema_registry';
 import {SummaryResolver} from './summary_resolver';
 import {getUrlScheme} from './url_resolver';
-import {MODULE_SUFFIX, SyncAsyncResult, SyntaxError, ValueTransformer, visitValue} from './util';
+import {MODULE_SUFFIX, SyntaxError, ValueTransformer, visitValue} from './util';
 
 export type ErrorCollector = (error: any, type?: any) => void;
 export const ERROR_COLLECTOR_TOKEN = new OpaqueToken('ErrorCollector');
@@ -70,7 +69,7 @@ export class CompileMetadataResolver {
     }
   }
 
-  clearCache() {
+  clearCache(): void {
     this._directiveCache.clear();
     this._nonNormalizedDirectiveCache.clear();
     this._summaryCache.clear();
@@ -337,14 +336,14 @@ export class CompileMetadataResolver {
     }
 
     let providers: cpl.CompileProviderMetadata[] = [];
-    if (isPresent(dirMeta.providers)) {
+    if (dirMeta.providers != null) {
       providers = this._getProvidersMetadata(
           dirMeta.providers, entryComponentMetadata,
           `providers for "${stringifyType(directiveType)}"`, [], directiveType);
     }
     let queries: cpl.CompileQueryMetadata[] = [];
     let viewQueries: cpl.CompileQueryMetadata[] = [];
-    if (isPresent(dirMeta.queries)) {
+    if (dirMeta.queries != null) {
       queries = this._getQueriesMetadata(dirMeta.queries, false, directiveType);
       viewQueries = this._getQueriesMetadata(dirMeta.queries, true, directiveType);
     }
@@ -807,14 +806,14 @@ export class CompileMetadataResolver {
             token = paramEntry.attributeName;
           } else if (paramEntry instanceof Inject) {
             token = paramEntry.token;
-          } else if (isValidType(paramEntry) && isBlank(token)) {
+          } else if (isValidType(paramEntry) && token == null) {
             token = paramEntry;
           }
         });
       } else {
         token = param;
       }
-      if (isBlank(token)) {
+      if (token == null) {
         hasUnknownDeps = true;
         return null;
       }
@@ -864,6 +863,7 @@ export class CompileMetadataResolver {
         provider = resolveForwardRef(provider);
         let providerMeta: cpl.ProviderMeta;
         if (provider && typeof provider == 'object' && provider.hasOwnProperty('provide')) {
+          this._validateProvider(provider);
           providerMeta = new cpl.ProviderMeta(provider.provide, provider);
         } else if (isValidType(provider)) {
           providerMeta = new cpl.ProviderMeta(provider, {useClass: provider});
@@ -897,6 +897,16 @@ export class CompileMetadataResolver {
     return compileProviders;
   }
 
+  private _validateProvider(provider: any): void {
+    if (provider.hasOwnProperty('useClass') && provider.useClass == null) {
+      this._reportError(new SyntaxError(
+          `Invalid provider for ${stringifyType(provider.provide)}. useClass cannot be ${provider.useClass}.
+           Usually it happens when:
+           1. There's a circular dependency (might be caused by using index.ts (barrel) files).
+           2. Class was used before it was declared. Use forwardRef in this case.`));
+    }
+  }
+
   private _getEntryComponentsFromProvider(provider: cpl.ProviderMeta, type?: any):
       cpl.CompileEntryComponentMetadata[] {
     const components: cpl.CompileEntryComponentMetadata[] = [];
diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/metadata_resolver_spec.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/metadata_resolver_spec.ts
index 0bcec64de6..e7255eaad1 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/metadata_resolver_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/metadata_resolver_spec.ts
@@ -222,6 +222,17 @@ export function main() {
                  SyntaxError, `Can't resolve all parameters for NonAnnotatedService: (?).`);
        }));
 
+    it('should throw with descriptive error message when encounter invalid provider',
+       inject([CompileMetadataResolver], (resolver: CompileMetadataResolver) => {
+         @NgModule({providers: [{provide: SimpleService, useClass: undefined}]})
+         class SomeModule {
+         }
+
+         expect(() => resolver.loadNgModuleDirectiveAndPipeMetadata(SomeModule, true))
+             .toThrowError(
+                 SyntaxError, /Invalid provider for SimpleService. useClass cannot be undefined./);
+       }));
+
     it('should throw with descriptive error message when one of providers is not present',
        inject([CompileMetadataResolver], (resolver: CompileMetadataResolver) => {
          @NgModule({declarations: [MyBrokenComp3]})