diff --git a/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts b/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
index 8a44a585908..4d5962babc5 100644
--- a/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
+++ b/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
@@ -541,3 +541,8 @@ export function getIntervals(range: TimeRange, lowLimit: string, resolution: num
 export function deduplicateLogRowsById(rows: LogRowModel[]) {
   return _.uniqBy(rows, 'uid');
 }
+
+export const getFirstNonQueryRowSpecificError = (queryErrors?: DataQueryError[]) => {
+  const refId = getValueWithRefId(queryErrors);
+  return refId ? null : getFirstQueryErrorWithoutRefId(queryErrors);
+};
diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/ErrorContainer.test.tsx b/public/app/features/explore/ErrorContainer.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d55ae14e099
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/ErrorContainer.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import React from 'react';
+import { DataQueryError } from '@grafana/data';
+import { shallow } from 'enzyme';
+import { ErrorContainer } from './ErrorContainer';
+
+const makeError = (propOverrides?: DataQueryError): DataQueryError => {
+  const queryError: DataQueryError = {
+    data: {
+      message: 'Error data message',
+      error: 'Error data content',
+    },
+    message: 'Error message',
+    status: 'Error status',
+    statusText: 'Error status text',
+    refId: 'A',
+    cancelled: false,
+  };
+  Object.assign(queryError, propOverrides);
+  return queryError;
+};
+
+const setup = (propOverrides?: object) => {
+  const props = {
+    queryError: makeError(propOverrides),
+  };
+
+  const wrapper = shallow(<ErrorContainer {...props} />);
+  return wrapper;
+};
+
+describe('ErrorContainer', () => {
+  it('should render component', () => {
+    const wrapper = setup();
+    expect(wrapper).toMatchSnapshot();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/ErrorContainer.tsx b/public/app/features/explore/ErrorContainer.tsx
index 1e2c98138ec..57d5dcf24c1 100644
--- a/public/app/features/explore/ErrorContainer.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/ErrorContainer.tsx
@@ -1,16 +1,13 @@
 import React, { FunctionComponent } from 'react';
 import { DataQueryError } from '@grafana/data';
 import { FadeIn } from 'app/core/components/Animations/FadeIn';
-import { getFirstQueryErrorWithoutRefId, getValueWithRefId } from 'app/core/utils/explore';
 
-interface Props {
-  queryErrors?: DataQueryError[];
+export interface ErrorContainerProps {
+  queryError?: DataQueryError;
 }
 
-export const ErrorContainer: FunctionComponent<Props> = props => {
-  const { queryErrors } = props;
-  const refId = getValueWithRefId(queryErrors);
-  const queryError = refId ? null : getFirstQueryErrorWithoutRefId(queryErrors);
+export const ErrorContainer: FunctionComponent<ErrorContainerProps> = props => {
+  const { queryError } = props;
   const showError = queryError ? true : false;
   const duration = showError ? 100 : 10;
   const message = queryError ? queryError.message : null;
diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/Explore.test.tsx b/public/app/features/explore/Explore.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a4c963c6ce6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/Explore.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+import React from 'react';
+import {
+  DataSourceApi,
+  LoadingState,
+  ExploreMode,
+  toUtc,
+  DataQueryError,
+  DataQueryRequest,
+  CoreApp,
+} from '@grafana/data';
+import { getFirstNonQueryRowSpecificError } from 'app/core/utils/explore';
+import { ExploreId } from 'app/types/explore';
+import { shallow } from 'enzyme';
+import { Explore, ExploreProps } from './Explore';
+import { scanStopAction } from './state/actionTypes';
+import { toggleGraph } from './state/actions';
+import { Provider } from 'react-redux';
+import { configureStore } from 'app/store/configureStore';
+
+const setup = (renderMethod: any, propOverrides?: object) => {
+  const props: ExploreProps = {
+    changeSize: jest.fn(),
+    datasourceInstance: {
+      meta: {
+        metrics: true,
+        logs: true,
+      },
+      components: {
+        ExploreStartPage: {},
+      },
+    } as DataSourceApi,
+    datasourceMissing: false,
+    exploreId: ExploreId.left,
+    initializeExplore: jest.fn(),
+    initialized: true,
+    modifyQueries: jest.fn(),
+    update: {
+      datasource: false,
+      queries: false,
+      range: false,
+      mode: false,
+      ui: false,
+    },
+    refreshExplore: jest.fn(),
+    scanning: false,
+    scanRange: {
+      from: '0',
+      to: '0',
+    },
+    scanStart: jest.fn(),
+    scanStopAction: scanStopAction,
+    setQueries: jest.fn(),
+    split: false,
+    queryKeys: [],
+    initialDatasource: 'test',
+    initialQueries: [],
+    initialRange: {
+      from: toUtc('2019-01-01 10:00:00'),
+      to: toUtc('2019-01-01 16:00:00'),
+      raw: {
+        from: 'now-6h',
+        to: 'now',
+      },
+    },
+    mode: ExploreMode.Metrics,
+    initialUI: {
+      showingTable: false,
+      showingGraph: false,
+      showingLogs: false,
+    },
+    isLive: false,
+    syncedTimes: false,
+    updateTimeRange: jest.fn(),
+    graphResult: [],
+    loading: false,
+    absoluteRange: {
+      from: 0,
+      to: 0,
+    },
+    showingGraph: false,
+    showingTable: false,
+    timeZone: 'UTC',
+    onHiddenSeriesChanged: jest.fn(),
+    toggleGraph: toggleGraph,
+    queryResponse: {
+      state: LoadingState.NotStarted,
+      series: [],
+      request: ({
+        requestId: '1',
+        dashboardId: 0,
+        interval: '1s',
+        panelId: 1,
+        scopedVars: {
+          apps: {
+            value: 'value',
+          },
+        },
+        targets: [
+          {
+            refId: 'A',
+          },
+        ],
+        timezone: 'UTC',
+        app: CoreApp.Explore,
+        startTime: 0,
+      } as unknown) as DataQueryRequest,
+      error: {} as DataQueryError,
+      timeRange: {
+        from: toUtc('2019-01-01 10:00:00'),
+        to: toUtc('2019-01-01 16:00:00'),
+        raw: {
+          from: 'now-6h',
+          to: 'now',
+        },
+      },
+    },
+    originPanelId: 1,
+    addQueryRow: jest.fn(),
+  };
+
+  const store = configureStore();
+
+  Object.assign(props, propOverrides);
+  return renderMethod(
+    <Provider store={store}>
+      <Explore {...props} />
+    </Provider>
+  );
+};
+
+const setupErrors = (hasRefId?: boolean) => {
+  return [
+    {
+      message: 'Error message',
+      status: '400',
+      statusText: 'Bad Request',
+      refId: hasRefId ? 'A' : '',
+    },
+  ];
+};
+
+describe('Explore', () => {
+  it('should render component', () => {
+    const wrapper = setup(shallow);
+    expect(wrapper).toMatchSnapshot();
+  });
+
+  it('should filter out a query-row-specific error when looking for non-query-row-specific errors', async () => {
+    const queryErrors = setupErrors(true);
+    const queryError = getFirstNonQueryRowSpecificError(queryErrors);
+    expect(queryError).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it('should not filter out a generic error when looking for non-query-row-specific errors', async () => {
+    const queryErrors = setupErrors();
+    const queryError = getFirstNonQueryRowSpecificError(queryErrors);
+    expect(queryError).not.toBeNull();
+    expect(queryError).toEqual({
+      message: 'Error message',
+      status: '400',
+      statusText: 'Bad Request',
+      refId: '',
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/Explore.tsx b/public/app/features/explore/Explore.tsx
index 58004b67cfa..65de938cf59 100644
--- a/public/app/features/explore/Explore.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/Explore.tsx
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ import {
   getTimeRangeFromUrl,
   getTimeRange,
   lastUsedDatasourceKeyForOrgId,
+  getFirstNonQueryRowSpecificError,
 } from 'app/core/utils/explore';
 import { Emitter } from 'app/core/utils/emitter';
 import { ExploreToolbar } from './ExploreToolbar';
@@ -72,7 +73,7 @@ const getStyles = stylesFactory(() => {
   };
 });
 
-interface ExploreProps {
+export interface ExploreProps {
   changeSize: typeof changeSize;
   datasourceInstance: DataSourceApi;
   datasourceMissing: boolean;
@@ -294,6 +295,10 @@ export class Explore extends React.PureComponent<ExploreProps, ExploreState> {
     const StartPage = datasourceInstance?.components?.ExploreStartPage;
     const showStartPage = !queryResponse || queryResponse.state === LoadingState.NotStarted;
 
+    // gets an error without a refID, so non-query-row-related error, like a connection error
+    const queryErrors = queryResponse.error ? [queryResponse.error] : undefined;
+    const queryError = getFirstNonQueryRowSpecificError(queryErrors);
+
     return (
       <div className={exploreClass} ref={this.getRef}>
         <ExploreToolbar exploreId={exploreId} onChangeTime={this.onChangeTime} />
@@ -323,7 +328,7 @@ export class Explore extends React.PureComponent<ExploreProps, ExploreState> {
                 <span className="btn-title">{'\xA0' + 'Query history'}</span>
               </button>
             </div>
-            <ErrorContainer queryErrors={queryResponse.error ? [queryResponse.error] : undefined} />
+            <ErrorContainer queryError={queryError} />
             <AutoSizer onResize={this.onResize} disableHeight>
               {({ width }) => {
                 if (width === 0) {
diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/QueryRow.tsx b/public/app/features/explore/QueryRow.tsx
index cf9a311ed3e..a758459f21e 100644
--- a/public/app/features/explore/QueryRow.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/QueryRow.tsx
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import {
 import { ExploreItemState, ExploreId } from 'app/types/explore';
 import { Emitter } from 'app/core/utils/emitter';
 import { highlightLogsExpressionAction, removeQueryRowAction } from './state/actionTypes';
+import { ErrorContainer } from './ErrorContainer';
 
 interface PropsFromParent {
   exploreId: ExploreId;
@@ -137,43 +138,46 @@ export class QueryRow extends PureComponent<QueryRowProps, QueryRowState> {
     }
 
     return (
-      <div className="query-row">
-        <div className="query-row-field flex-shrink-1">
-          {QueryField ? (
-            <QueryField
-              datasource={datasourceInstance}
-              query={query}
-              history={history}
-              onRunQuery={this.onRunQuery}
-              onBlur={noopOnBlur}
-              onChange={this.onChange}
-              data={queryResponse}
-              absoluteRange={absoluteRange}
-              exploreMode={mode}
-            />
-          ) : (
-            <QueryEditor
-              error={queryErrors}
-              datasource={datasourceInstance}
-              onQueryChange={this.onChange}
-              onExecuteQuery={this.onRunQuery}
-              initialQuery={query}
-              exploreEvents={exploreEvents}
-              range={range}
-              textEditModeEnabled={this.state.textEditModeEnabled}
-            />
-          )}
+      <>
+        <div className="query-row">
+          <div className="query-row-field flex-shrink-1">
+            {QueryField ? (
+              <QueryField
+                datasource={datasourceInstance}
+                query={query}
+                history={history}
+                onRunQuery={this.onRunQuery}
+                onBlur={noopOnBlur}
+                onChange={this.onChange}
+                data={queryResponse}
+                absoluteRange={absoluteRange}
+                exploreMode={mode}
+              />
+            ) : (
+              <QueryEditor
+                error={queryErrors}
+                datasource={datasourceInstance}
+                onQueryChange={this.onChange}
+                onExecuteQuery={this.onRunQuery}
+                initialQuery={query}
+                exploreEvents={exploreEvents}
+                range={range}
+                textEditModeEnabled={this.state.textEditModeEnabled}
+              />
+            )}
+          </div>
+          <QueryRowActions
+            canToggleEditorModes={canToggleEditorModes}
+            isDisabled={query.hide}
+            isNotStarted={isNotStarted}
+            latency={latency}
+            onClickToggleEditorMode={this.onClickToggleEditorMode}
+            onClickToggleDisabled={this.onClickToggleDisabled}
+            onClickRemoveButton={this.onClickRemoveButton}
+          />
         </div>
-        <QueryRowActions
-          canToggleEditorModes={canToggleEditorModes}
-          isDisabled={query.hide}
-          isNotStarted={isNotStarted}
-          latency={latency}
-          onClickToggleEditorMode={this.onClickToggleEditorMode}
-          onClickToggleDisabled={this.onClickToggleDisabled}
-          onClickRemoveButton={this.onClickRemoveButton}
-        />
-      </div>
+        {queryErrors.length > 0 && <ErrorContainer queryError={queryErrors[0]} />}
+      </>
     );
   }
 }
diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/__snapshots__/ErrorContainer.test.tsx.snap b/public/app/features/explore/__snapshots__/ErrorContainer.test.tsx.snap
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4fe09accde1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/__snapshots__/ErrorContainer.test.tsx.snap
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+// Jest Snapshot v1, https://goo.gl/fbAQLP
+
+exports[`ErrorContainer should render component 1`] = `
+<Component
+  duration={100}
+  in={true}
+>
+  <div
+    className="alert-container"
+  >
+    <div
+      className="alert-error alert"
+    >
+      <div
+        className="alert-icon"
+      >
+        <i
+          className="fa fa-exclamation-triangle"
+        />
+      </div>
+      <div
+        className="alert-body"
+      >
+        <div
+          className="alert-title"
+        >
+          Error message
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</Component>
+`;
diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/__snapshots__/Explore.test.tsx.snap b/public/app/features/explore/__snapshots__/Explore.test.tsx.snap
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1ce9e949c29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/__snapshots__/Explore.test.tsx.snap
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+// Jest Snapshot v1, https://goo.gl/fbAQLP
+
+exports[`Explore should render component 1`] = `
+<ContextProvider
+  value={
+    Object {
+      "store": Object {
+        "dispatch": [Function],
+        "getState": [Function],
+        "replaceReducer": [Function],
+        "subscribe": [Function],
+        Symbol(observable): [Function],
+      },
+      "subscription": Subscription {
+        "handleChangeWrapper": [Function],
+        "listeners": Object {
+          "notify": [Function],
+        },
+        "onStateChange": [Function],
+        "parentSub": undefined,
+        "store": Object {
+          "dispatch": [Function],
+          "getState": [Function],
+          "replaceReducer": [Function],
+          "subscribe": [Function],
+          Symbol(observable): [Function],
+        },
+        "unsubscribe": null,
+      },
+    }
+  }
+>
+  <Explore
+    absoluteRange={
+      Object {
+        "from": 0,
+        "to": 0,
+      }
+    }
+    addQueryRow={[MockFunction]}
+    changeSize={[MockFunction]}
+    datasourceInstance={
+      Object {
+        "components": Object {
+          "ExploreStartPage": Object {},
+        },
+        "meta": Object {
+          "logs": true,
+          "metrics": true,
+        },
+      }
+    }
+    datasourceMissing={false}
+    exploreId="left"
+    graphResult={Array []}
+    initialDatasource="test"
+    initialQueries={Array []}
+    initialRange={
+      Object {
+        "from": "2019-01-01T10:00:00.000Z",
+        "raw": Object {
+          "from": "now-6h",
+          "to": "now",
+        },
+        "to": "2019-01-01T16:00:00.000Z",
+      }
+    }
+    initialUI={
+      Object {
+        "showingGraph": false,
+        "showingLogs": false,
+        "showingTable": false,
+      }
+    }
+    initializeExplore={[MockFunction]}
+    initialized={true}
+    isLive={false}
+    loading={false}
+    mode="Metrics"
+    modifyQueries={[MockFunction]}
+    onHiddenSeriesChanged={[MockFunction]}
+    originPanelId={1}
+    queryKeys={Array []}
+    queryResponse={
+      Object {
+        "error": Object {},
+        "request": Object {
+          "app": "explore",
+          "dashboardId": 0,
+          "interval": "1s",
+          "panelId": 1,
+          "requestId": "1",
+          "scopedVars": Object {
+            "apps": Object {
+              "value": "value",
+            },
+          },
+          "startTime": 0,
+          "targets": Array [
+            Object {
+              "refId": "A",
+            },
+          ],
+          "timezone": "UTC",
+        },
+        "series": Array [],
+        "state": "NotStarted",
+        "timeRange": Object {
+          "from": "2019-01-01T10:00:00.000Z",
+          "raw": Object {
+            "from": "now-6h",
+            "to": "now",
+          },
+          "to": "2019-01-01T16:00:00.000Z",
+        },
+      }
+    }
+    refreshExplore={[MockFunction]}
+    scanRange={
+      Object {
+        "from": "0",
+        "to": "0",
+      }
+    }
+    scanStart={[MockFunction]}
+    scanStopAction={[Function]}
+    scanning={false}
+    setQueries={[MockFunction]}
+    showingGraph={false}
+    showingTable={false}
+    split={false}
+    syncedTimes={false}
+    timeZone="UTC"
+    toggleGraph={[Function]}
+    update={
+      Object {
+        "datasource": false,
+        "mode": false,
+        "queries": false,
+        "range": false,
+        "ui": false,
+      }
+    }
+    updateTimeRange={[MockFunction]}
+  />
+</ContextProvider>
+`;
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/components/ElasticsearchQueryField.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/components/ElasticsearchQueryField.tsx
index 79f066fed84..aca6286dc54 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/components/ElasticsearchQueryField.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/components/ElasticsearchQueryField.tsx
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class ElasticsearchQueryField extends React.PureComponent<Props, State> {
   };
 
   render() {
-    const { data, query } = this.props;
+    const { query } = this.props;
     const { syntaxLoaded } = this.state;
 
     return (
@@ -77,7 +77,6 @@ class ElasticsearchQueryField extends React.PureComponent<Props, State> {
             />
           </div>
         </div>
-        {data && data.error ? <div className="prom-query-field-info text-error">{data.error.message}</div> : null}
       </>
     );
   }
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/components/LokiQueryFieldForm.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/components/LokiQueryFieldForm.tsx
index 5b2db1dd0c4..878ce7541df 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/components/LokiQueryFieldForm.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/components/LokiQueryFieldForm.tsx
@@ -137,7 +137,6 @@ export class LokiQueryFieldForm extends React.PureComponent<LokiQueryFieldFormPr
   render() {
     const {
       ExtraFieldElement,
-      data,
       query,
       syntaxLoaded,
       logLabelOptions,
@@ -150,7 +149,6 @@ export class LokiQueryFieldForm extends React.PureComponent<LokiQueryFieldFormPr
     const hasLogLabels = logLabelOptions && logLabelOptions.length > 0;
     const chooserText = getChooserText(syntaxLoaded, hasLogLabels);
     const buttonDisabled = !(syntaxLoaded && hasLogLabels);
-    const showError = data && data.error && data.error.refId === query.refId;
 
     return (
       <>
@@ -183,11 +181,6 @@ export class LokiQueryFieldForm extends React.PureComponent<LokiQueryFieldFormPr
           </div>
           {ExtraFieldElement}
         </div>
-        {showError ? (
-          <div className="query-row-break">
-            <div className="prom-query-field-info text-error">{data.error.message}</div>
-          </div>
-        ) : null}
       </>
     );
   }
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.tsx
index 144b8e6c8d8..f0390639d91 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/components/PromQueryField.tsx
@@ -292,12 +292,11 @@ class PromQueryField extends React.PureComponent<PromQueryFieldProps, PromQueryF
   };
 
   render() {
-    const { data, query, ExtraFieldElement } = this.props;
+    const { query, ExtraFieldElement } = this.props;
     const { metricsOptions, syntaxLoaded, hint } = this.state;
     const cleanText = this.languageProvider ? this.languageProvider.cleanText : undefined;
     const chooserText = getChooserText(syntaxLoaded, metricsOptions);
     const buttonDisabled = !(syntaxLoaded && metricsOptions && metricsOptions.length > 0);
-    const showError = data && data.error && data.error.refId === query.refId;
 
     return (
       <>
@@ -324,11 +323,6 @@ class PromQueryField extends React.PureComponent<PromQueryFieldProps, PromQueryF
           </div>
           {ExtraFieldElement}
         </div>
-        {showError ? (
-          <div className="query-row-break">
-            <div className="prom-query-field-info text-error">{data.error.message}</div>
-          </div>
-        ) : null}
         {hint ? (
           <div className="query-row-break">
             <div className="prom-query-field-info text-warning">