diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.ts
index b165ad4c689..814b6c72da6 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.ts
@@ -75,6 +75,12 @@ export class ElasticDatasource {
     return this.request('POST', url, data).then(function(results) {
       results.data.$$config = results.config;
       return results.data;
+    }).catch(err => {
+      if (err.data && err.data.error) {
+        throw {message: 'Elasticsearch error: ' + err.data.error.reason, error: err.data.error};
+      }
+
+      throw err;
     });
   }
 
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/gettingstarted/module.ts b/public/app/plugins/panel/gettingstarted/module.ts
index 43c0a249820..de65bbff20e 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/gettingstarted/module.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/gettingstarted/module.ts
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ class GettingStartedPanelCtrl extends PanelCtrl {
       check: () => {
         return $q.when(
           datasourceSrv.getMetricSources().filter(item => {
-            return item.meta.builtIn === false;
+            return item.meta.builtIn !== true;
           }).length > 0
         );
       }