diff --git a/simgear/io/HTTPRepository.cxx b/simgear/io/HTTPRepository.cxx
index d36117be..e6bf3be4 100644
--- a/simgear/io/HTTPRepository.cxx
+++ b/simgear/io/HTTPRepository.cxx
@@ -1239,7 +1239,7 @@ HTTPRepository::failure() const
 
     void HTTPRepoPrivate::failedToGetRootIndex(HTTPRepository::ResultCode st)
     {
-        SG_LOG(SG_TERRASYNC, SG_WARN, "Failed to get root of repo:" << baseUrl);
+        SG_LOG(SG_TERRASYNC, SG_WARN, "Failed to get root of repo:" << baseUrl << " " << st);
         status = st;
     }
 
@@ -1288,7 +1288,6 @@ HTTPRepository::failure() const
 
         // maybe there was nothing to do
         if (activeRequests.empty()) {
-            status = HTTPRepository::REPO_NO_ERROR;
             isUpdating = false;
         }
     }
diff --git a/simgear/scene/tsync/terrasync.cxx b/simgear/scene/tsync/terrasync.cxx
index 521fb5a6..3c6b32c5 100644
--- a/simgear/scene/tsync/terrasync.cxx
+++ b/simgear/scene/tsync/terrasync.cxx
@@ -496,6 +496,13 @@ void SGTerraSync::WorkerThread::run()
         }
     }
 
+    if (_httpServer.empty()) {
+        SG_LOG(SG_TERRASYNC, SG_ALERT, "ERROR: no http-server found, terrasync will be disabled");
+        SGGuard<SGMutex> g(_stateLock);
+        _running = false;
+        return;
+    }
+
     runInternal();
 
     {