diff --git a/phpBB/phpbb/db/driver/mysqli.php b/phpBB/phpbb/db/driver/mysqli.php
index ad5fa09343..457e6d8ac8 100644
--- a/phpBB/phpbb/db/driver/mysqli.php
+++ b/phpBB/phpbb/db/driver/mysqli.php
@@ -59,14 +59,17 @@ class mysqli extends \phpbb\db\driver\mysql_base
 			}
 		}
 
-		$this->db_connect_id = mysqli_init();
-
-		if (!@mysqli_real_connect($this->db_connect_id, $this->server, $this->user, $sqlpassword, $this->dbname, $port, $socket, MYSQLI_CLIENT_FOUND_ROWS))
+		if (!$this->db_connect_id = mysqli_init())
 		{
-			$this->db_connect_id = '';
+			$this->connect_error = 'Failed to initialize MySQLi object.';
+
+		}
+		else if (!@mysqli_real_connect($this->db_connect_id, $this->server, $this->user, $sqlpassword, $this->dbname, $port, $socket, MYSQLI_CLIENT_FOUND_ROWS))
+		{
+			$this->connect_error = 'Failed to establish a connection to the MySQL database engine. Please ensure MySQL server is running and the database configuration parameters are correct.';
 		}
 
-		if ($this->db_connect_id && $this->dbname != '')
+		if (!$this->connect_error && $this->db_connect_id && $this->dbname != '')
 		{
 			// Disable loading local files on client side
 			@mysqli_options($this->db_connect_id, MYSQLI_OPT_LOCAL_INFILE, 0);
@@ -344,15 +347,8 @@ class mysqli extends \phpbb\db\driver\mysql_base
 		if ($this->db_connect_id)
 		{
 			$error = [
-				'message'	=> $this->db_connect_id->error,
-				'code'		=> $this->db_connect_id->errno,
-			];
-		}
-		else if (function_exists('mysqli_connect_error'))
-		{
-			$error = [
-				'message'	=> $this->db_connect_id->connect_error,
-				'code'		=> $this->db_connect_id->connect_errno,
+				'message'	=> $this->db_connect_id->connect_error ?: $this->db_connect_id->error,
+				'code'		=> $this->db_connect_id->connect_errno ?: $this->db_connect_id->errno,
 			];
 		}
 		else