diff --git a/Controllers/BrowserController.cs b/Controllers/BrowserController.cs
index d1d5f0f..11eb668 100644
--- a/Controllers/BrowserController.cs
+++ b/Controllers/BrowserController.cs
@@ -61,6 +61,12 @@ public ActionResult Index()
         [HttpPost]
         public ActionResult UserPassword(string endpointUrl)
         {
+            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(endpointUrl) || !endpointUrl.StartsWith("opc.tcp://"))
+            {
+                _session.StatusMessage = "Please provide a valid OPC UA endpoint URL in the format opc.tcp://ipaddress:port";
+                return View("Index", _session);
+            }
+
             _session.EndpointUrl = endpointUrl;
 
             HttpContext.Session.SetString("EndpointUrl", endpointUrl);
@@ -74,8 +80,7 @@ public ActionResult ConnectAsync(string username, string password)
             _session.EndpointUrl = HttpContext.Session.GetString("EndpointUrl");
             _session.UserName = username;
             _session.Password = password;
-            _session.StatusMessage = "Connected to: " + _session.EndpointUrl;
-            
+
             return View("Browse", _session);
         }
 
@@ -172,7 +177,7 @@ public async Task<ActionResult> GenerateCSV()
                 return View("Browse", _session);
             }
         }
-        
+
         [HttpPost]
         public async Task<ActionResult> PushCert()
         {
@@ -181,7 +186,7 @@ public async Task<ActionResult> PushCert()
             try
             {
                  await _client.GDSServerPush(_session.EndpointUrl, _session.UserName, _session.Password).ConfigureAwait(false);
-                
+
                 _session.StatusMessage = "New certificate and trust list pushed successfully to server!";
             }
             catch (Exception ex)
diff --git a/Pages/UABrowser.razor b/Pages/UABrowser.razor
index 7eb6498..1a810fa 100644
--- a/Pages/UABrowser.razor
+++ b/Pages/UABrowser.razor
@@ -69,12 +69,28 @@
     private string NodeValue { get; set; } = string.Empty;
     private bool NodeNotPublishable { get; set; } = true;
 
-    protected override void OnInitialized()
+    protected async override void OnInitialized()
     {
-        UANodes.Add(new UANode() {
+        StatusMessage = "Connecting to " + EndpointUrl + "...";
+        await InvokeAsync(StateHasChanged).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        UANode root = new()
+        {
             Text = "Root",
             NodeId = ObjectIds.ObjectsFolder.ToString()
-        });
+        };
+
+        root.Children = await GetChildrenAsync(root).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        if (root.Children == null)
+        {
+            StatusMessage = "Could not connect to server " + EndpointUrl + "!";
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            UANodes.Add(root);
+            StatusMessage = "Connected to " + EndpointUrl + ".";
+            await InvokeAsync(StateHasChanged).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
     }
 
     private async Task OnNodeExpand(UANode expendedNode)
@@ -143,7 +159,7 @@
         {
             StatusMessage = ex.Message;
 
-            return new List<UANode>();
+            return null;
         }
     }