diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index c0e7c46d07..94e026baf3 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ phpMyAdmin - ChangeLog
 - bug Handle the situation where PHP_SELF is not set 
 - bug #4080 Overwrite existing file not obeyed
 - bug #3929 Database-specific privileges are not copied when cloning user
+- bug #3997 Error handling in case MySQL extension is missing
 
 4.0.6.0 (2013-09-05)
 - bug #4036 Call to undefined function mb_detect_encoding (clarify the doc)
diff --git a/libraries/common.inc.php b/libraries/common.inc.php
index 2436308b9f..01939d4f3c 100644
--- a/libraries/common.inc.php
+++ b/libraries/common.inc.php
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
  */
 
 /**
- * block attempts to directly run this script 
+ * block attempts to directly run this script
  */
 if (getcwd() == dirname(__FILE__)) {
     die('Attack stopped');
@@ -731,11 +731,6 @@ if (@file_exists($_SESSION['PMA_Theme']->getLayoutFile())) {
 }
 
 if (! defined('PMA_MINIMUM_COMMON')) {
-    if (! defined('PMA_BYPASS_GET_INSTANCE')) {
-        // get a dummy object to ensure that the class is instanciated
-        PMA_Response::getInstance();
-    }
-
     /**
      * Character set conversion.
      */
diff --git a/libraries/database_interface.inc.php b/libraries/database_interface.inc.php
index cadd6640d5..2ad1706a25 100644
--- a/libraries/database_interface.inc.php
+++ b/libraries/database_interface.inc.php
@@ -29,6 +29,12 @@ if (defined('TESTSUITE')) {
 
         // if it fails try alternative extension ...
         // and display an error ...
+        $docurl = PMA_Util::getDocuLink('faq', 'faqmysql');
+        $doclink = sprintf(
+            __('See %sour documentation%s for more information.'),
+            '[a@' . $docurl  . '@documentation]',
+            '[/a]'
+        );
 
         /**
          * @todo add different messages for alternative extension
@@ -37,7 +43,7 @@ if (defined('TESTSUITE')) {
         PMA_warnMissingExtension(
             $extensionName,
             false,
-            PMA_Util::showDocu('faq', 'faqmysql')
+            $doclink
         );
 
         if ($extensionName === 'mysql') {
@@ -51,7 +57,7 @@ if (defined('TESTSUITE')) {
             PMA_warnMissingExtension(
                 $extensionName,
                 true,
-                PMA_Util::showDocu('faq', 'faqmysql')
+                $doclink
             );
         }
 
diff --git a/url.php b/url.php
index f3954ff1db..897f3529b9 100644
--- a/url.php
+++ b/url.php
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 /**
  * Gets core libraries and defines some variables
  */
+define('PMA_MINIMUM_COMMON', True);
 require_once './libraries/common.inc.php';
 
 if (! PMA_isValid($_GET['url'])