diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/render/dom/compiler/compiler.ts b/modules/angular2/src/render/dom/compiler/compiler.ts
index 2d4ab3b7c4..9f1c224c65 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/render/dom/compiler/compiler.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/render/dom/compiler/compiler.ts
@@ -36,8 +36,9 @@ export class DomCompiler extends RenderCompiler {
     var tplPromise = this._templateLoader.load(template);
     return PromiseWrapper.then(
         tplPromise, (el) => this._compileTemplate(template, el, ProtoViewDto.COMPONENT_VIEW_TYPE),
-        (_) => {
-          throw new BaseException(`Failed to load the template "${template.componentId}"`);
+        (e) => {
+          throw new BaseException(
+              `Failed to load the template for "${template.componentId}" : ${e}`);
         });
   }
 
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/render/dom/compiler/template_loader.ts b/modules/angular2/src/render/dom/compiler/template_loader.ts
index 51e891bbd9..4ebfe2cd7e 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/render/dom/compiler/template_loader.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/render/dom/compiler/template_loader.ts
@@ -32,10 +32,14 @@ export class TemplateLoader {
       var promise = StringMapWrapper.get(this._htmlCache, url);
 
       if (isBlank(promise)) {
-        promise = this._xhr.get(url).then(function(html) {
+        // TODO(vicb): change error when TS gets fixed
+        // https://github.com/angular/angular/issues/2280
+        // throw new BaseException(`Failed to fetch url "${url}"`);
+        promise = PromiseWrapper.then(this._xhr.get(url), html => {
           var template = DOM.createTemplate(html);
           return template;
-        });
+        }, _ => PromiseWrapper.reject(new BaseException(`Failed to fetch url "${url}"`), null));
+
         StringMapWrapper.set(this._htmlCache, url, promise);
       }
 
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/render/dom/compiler/compiler_common_tests.ts b/modules/angular2/test/render/dom/compiler/compiler_common_tests.ts
index eeca0a8966..ec9107808b 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/render/dom/compiler/compiler_common_tests.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/render/dom/compiler/compiler_common_tests.ts
@@ -103,7 +103,8 @@ export function runCompilerCommonTests() {
            PromiseWrapper.catchError(
                compiler.compile(new ViewDefinition({componentId: 'someId', absUrl: 'someUrl'})),
                (e) => {
-                 expect(e.message).toContain(`Failed to load the template "someId"`);
+                 expect(e.message).toEqual(
+                     'Failed to load the template for "someId" : Failed to fetch url "someUrl"');
                  async.done();
                  return null;
                });
@@ -208,9 +209,9 @@ class FakeTemplateLoader extends TemplateLoader {
 
     if (isPresent(template.absUrl)) {
       var content = MapWrapper.get(this._urlData, template.absUrl);
-      if (isPresent(content)) {
-        return PromiseWrapper.resolve(DOM.createTemplate(content));
-      }
+      return isPresent(content) ?
+                 PromiseWrapper.resolve(DOM.createTemplate(content)) :
+                 PromiseWrapper.reject(`Failed to fetch url "${template.absUrl}"`, null);
     }
 
     return PromiseWrapper.reject('Load failed', null);
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/render/dom/compiler/template_loader_spec.ts b/modules/angular2/test/render/dom/compiler/template_loader_spec.ts
index 343570f0a4..7603ff3cbe 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/render/dom/compiler/template_loader_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/render/dom/compiler/template_loader_spec.ts
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ export function main() {
          var template = new ViewDefinition({absUrl: 'base/foo'});
          PromiseWrapper.then(loader.load(template), function(_) { throw 'Unexpected response'; },
                              function(error) {
-                               expect(error).toEqual('Failed to load base/foo');
+                               expect(error.message).toEqual('Failed to fetch url "base/foo"');
                                async.done();
                              });
          xhr.flush();