diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/api/ClassUtil.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/api/ClassUtil.java
index 380abe714..8e3f0679e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/api/ClassUtil.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/api/ClassUtil.java
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ public class ClassUtil {
   /**
    * Load a class taking into account a context class loader (if present).
    */
-  private static Class<?> forName(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException {
+  public static Class<?> forName(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException {
     return new ClassLoadContext().forName(name);
   }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/lib/sql/DataSourcePool.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/lib/sql/DataSourcePool.java
index c69983ac4..2bb82e9d0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/lib/sql/DataSourcePool.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/lib/sql/DataSourcePool.java
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 package com.avaje.ebeaninternal.server.lib.sql;
 
+import com.avaje.ebean.config.DataSourceConfig;
+import com.avaje.ebeaninternal.api.ClassUtil;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import javax.persistence.PersistenceException;
+import javax.sql.DataSource;
 import java.io.PrintWriter;
 import java.sql.Connection;
 import java.sql.DriverManager;
@@ -12,15 +19,6 @@ import java.util.Map.Entry;
 import java.util.Properties;
 import java.util.Set;
 
-import javax.persistence.PersistenceException;
-import javax.sql.DataSource;
-
-import org.slf4j.Logger;
-import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
-
-import com.avaje.ebean.config.DataSourceConfig;
-import com.avaje.ebeaninternal.api.ClassUtil;
-
 /**
  * A robust DataSource.
  * <p>
@@ -244,6 +242,13 @@ public class DataSourcePool implements DataSource {
 
   private void initialise() throws SQLException {
 
+    // Ensure database driver is loaded
+    try {
+      ClassUtil.forName(this.databaseDriver);
+    } catch (Throwable e) {
+      throw new PersistenceException("Problem loading Database Driver [" + this.databaseDriver + "]: " + e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+
     String transIsolation = TransactionIsolation.getLevelDescription(transactionIsolation);
     //noinspection StringBufferReplaceableByString
     StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(70);
diff --git a/src/test/resources/ebean.properties b/src/test/resources/ebean.properties
index 67c0f3e55..fabebeacb 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/ebean.properties
+++ b/src/test/resources/ebean.properties
@@ -117,6 +117,8 @@ datasource.pg.databaseDriver=org.postgresql.Driver
 
 datasource.ms.username=test
 datasource.ms.password=test
-datasource.ms.databaseUrl=jdbc:sqlserver://192.168.1.70:1433;databaseName=test
+datasource.ms.databaseUrl=jdbc:sqlserver://192.168.1.67:1433;databaseName=test
 datasource.ms.databaseDriver=com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
-
+#datasource.ms.databaseUrl=jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://192.168.1.67:1433/test
+#datasource.ms.databaseDriver=net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbc.Driver
+#datasource.ms.heartbeatsql=select 1