diff --git a/libtextsecure/protobufs.js b/libtextsecure/protobufs.js
index ffa9637a5..253bf51fd 100644
--- a/libtextsecure/protobufs.js
+++ b/libtextsecure/protobufs.js
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
 
     function loadProtoBufs(filename) {
         return dcodeIO.ProtoBuf.loadProtoFile({root: 'protos', file: filename}, function(error, result) {
+           if (error) {
+              throw error;
+           }
            var protos = result.build('textsecure');
            for (var protoName in protos) {
               textsecure.protobuf[protoName] = protos[protoName];