diff --git a/program/include/rcmail.php b/program/include/rcmail.php
index f823fab51..43fb4a85b 100644
--- a/program/include/rcmail.php
+++ b/program/include/rcmail.php
@@ -1930,6 +1930,22 @@ class rcmail extends rcube
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Displays an error message on storage fatal errors
+     */
+    public function storage_fatal_error()
+    {
+        $err_code = $this->storage->get_error_code();
+        switch ($err_code) {
+        // Not all are really fatal, but these should catch
+        // connection/authentication errors the best we can
+        case rcube_imap_generic::ERROR_NO:
+        case rcube_imap_generic::ERROR_BAD:
+        case rcube_imap_generic::ERROR_BYE:
+            $this->display_server_error();
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Output HTML editor scripts
      *
diff --git a/program/steps/mail/check_recent.inc b/program/steps/mail/check_recent.inc
index ac0f360eb..dd6e488a4 100644
--- a/program/steps/mail/check_recent.inc
+++ b/program/steps/mail/check_recent.inc
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ else {
 $plugin      = $RCMAIL->plugins->exec_hook('check_recent', array('folders' => $a_mailboxes, 'all' => $check_all));
 $a_mailboxes = $plugin['folders'];
 
+$RCMAIL->storage_fatal_error();
+
 // check recent/unseen counts
 foreach ($a_mailboxes as $mbox_name) {
     $is_current = $mbox_name == $current || ($search_request && is_object($_SESSION['search'][1]) && in_array($mbox_name, (array)$_SESSION['search'][1]->get_parameters('MAILBOX')));
@@ -65,6 +67,10 @@ foreach ($a_mailboxes as $mbox_name) {
     // Get mailbox status
     $status = $RCMAIL->storage->folder_status($mbox_name, $diff);
 
+    if ($is_current) {
+        $RCMAIL->storage_fatal_error();
+    }
+
     if ($status & 1) {
         // trigger plugin hook
         $RCMAIL->plugins->exec_hook('new_messages',