diff --git a/panel/src/components/players/BansSection.tsx b/panel/src/components/players/BansSection.tsx
index b1804e6..f5896a1 100644
--- a/panel/src/components/players/BansSection.tsx
+++ b/panel/src/components/players/BansSection.tsx
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
 import {
   CollapsibleSection,
   FeedbackLine,
+  LoadError,
   MC_NAME,
   PagerFooter,
   PlayerField,
@@ -175,7 +176,7 @@ export function BansSection({ name }: { name: string }) {
             <Loader2 className="h-3.5 w-3.5 animate-spin" /> {t("log_connecting")}
           </div>
         ) : error ? (
-          <p role="alert" className="text-xs text-destructive">{t("access_ban_load_error")}</p>
+          <LoadError message={t("access_ban_load_error")} error={error} />
         ) : players.length === 0 ? (
           <div className="rounded-md border border-dashed border-border bg-muted/20 px-4 py-8 text-center">
             <p className="text-sm text-muted-foreground">{t("access_ban_empty")}</p>
diff --git a/panel/src/components/players/LoadError.test.tsx b/panel/src/components/players/LoadError.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..21c9510
--- /dev/null
+++ b/panel/src/components/players/LoadError.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+// @vitest-environment jsdom
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach } from "vitest";
+import { render, screen } from "@testing-library/react";
+import type { ReactElement } from "react";
+import i18next from "i18next";
+import { humanizeError } from "@/lib/api";
+import { OnlineSection } from "./OnlineSection";
+import { WhitelistSection } from "./WhitelistSection";
+import { BansSection } from "./BansSection";
+import { WakeListSection } from "./WakeListSection";
+
+const calls = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+  accessPlayers: vi.fn(),
+  accessWhitelistList: vi.fn(),
+  accessBanList: vi.fn(),
+  serverAllowlist: vi.fn(),
+}));
+vi.mock("@/lib/api", async (importOriginal) => {
+  const actual = await importOriginal<typeof import("@/lib/api")>();
+  return { ...actual, api: { ...actual.api, ...calls } };
+});
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  for (const fn of Object.values(calls)) fn.mockReset();
+});
+
+// A lapsed session and a server mid-restart want different next steps, so a
+// section whose list failed says which one it hit.
+describe("a player list that failed to load", () => {
+  it.each<[string, keyof typeof calls, string, ReactElement]>([
+    ["online players", "accessPlayers", "servers:access_online_load_error", <OnlineSection name="lobby" />],
+    ["whitelist", "accessWhitelistList", "servers:access_whitelist_load_error", <WhitelistSection name="lobby" />],
+    ["ban list", "accessBanList", "servers:access_ban_load_error", <BansSection name="lobby" />],
+    ["wake list", "serverAllowlist", "servers:wake_list_load_error", <WakeListSection name="lobby" policy="allowlist" />],
+  ])("names why the %s did not load", async (_label, call, key, section) => {
+    const outage = { status: 409, code: "not_running", message: "server is not running" };
+    calls[call].mockRejectedValue(outage);
+    render(section);
+
+    const alert = await screen.findByRole("alert");
+    expect(alert.textContent).toBe(`${i18next.t(key)} ${humanizeError(outage)}`);
+    expect(humanizeError(outage)).not.toBe("");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/panel/src/components/players/OnlineSection.tsx b/panel/src/components/players/OnlineSection.tsx
index 9d46cc3..e2ab7cf 100644
--- a/panel/src/components/players/OnlineSection.tsx
+++ b/panel/src/components/players/OnlineSection.tsx
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { useAsync } from "@/lib/hooks";
 import {
   CollapsibleSection,
   FeedbackLine,
+  LoadError,
   PagerFooter,
   rconReply,
   SearchBox,
@@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ export function OnlineSection({ name, defaultOpen = true }: { name: string; defa
             <Loader2 className="h-3.5 w-3.5 animate-spin" /> {t("log_connecting")}
           </div>
         ) : error ? (
-          <p role="alert" className="text-xs text-destructive">{t("access_online_load_error")}</p>
+          <LoadError message={t("access_online_load_error")} error={error} />
         ) : players.length === 0 ? (
           <div className="rounded-md border border-dashed border-border bg-muted/20 px-4 py-8 text-center">
             {namesUnavailable ? (
diff --git a/panel/src/components/players/WakeListSection.test.tsx b/panel/src/components/players/WakeListSection.test.tsx
index 0d3b915..43bc253 100644
--- a/panel/src/components/players/WakeListSection.test.tsx
+++ b/panel/src/components/players/WakeListSection.test.tsx
@@ -103,7 +103,9 @@ describe("WakeListSection", () => {
 
     calls.serverAllowlist.mockRejectedValue({ status: 500, code: "internal", message: "db down" });
     render(<WakeListSection name="lobby" policy="allowlist" defaultOpen />);
-    expect((await screen.findByRole("alert")).textContent).toBe("Couldn't load the wake list.");
+    expect((await screen.findByRole("alert")).textContent).toBe(
+      "Couldn't load the wake list. The service is unavailable right now (it may be restarting or upgrading). Try again shortly.",
+    );
   });
 
   it("finds a player by account name or by UUID once the list is long", async () => {
diff --git a/panel/src/components/players/WakeListSection.tsx b/panel/src/components/players/WakeListSection.tsx
index 4a34642..df129b9 100644
--- a/panel/src/components/players/WakeListSection.tsx
+++ b/panel/src/components/players/WakeListSection.tsx
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import { formatAbsolute, formatRelative } from "@/lib/format";
 import { useAsync } from "@/lib/hooks";
 import type { AllowlistEntry, AutostartPolicy } from "@/lib/types";
 import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
-import { CollapsibleSection, FeedbackLine, PagerFooter, SearchBox, usePagedNames, type Feedback } from "./shared";
+import { CollapsibleSection, FeedbackLine, LoadError, PagerFooter, SearchBox, usePagedNames, type Feedback } from "./shared";
 
 /** WakeListSection shows who may wake the server while it sleeps under the "wake
  *  list" autostart policy, and lets the owner take that right away or give it back.
@@ -100,9 +100,7 @@ export function WakeListSection({
             <Loader2 className="h-3.5 w-3.5 animate-spin" /> {t("log_connecting")}
           </div>
         ) : error ? (
-          <p role="alert" className="text-xs text-destructive">
-            {t("wake_list_load_error")}
-          </p>
+          <LoadError message={t("wake_list_load_error")} error={error} />
         ) : entries.length === 0 ? (
           <div className="rounded-md border border-dashed border-border bg-muted/20 px-4 py-8 text-center">
             <p className="text-sm text-muted-foreground">{t("wake_list_empty")}</p>
diff --git a/panel/src/components/players/WhitelistSection.tsx b/panel/src/components/players/WhitelistSection.tsx
index 2bf27a7..e0dbfb0 100644
--- a/panel/src/components/players/WhitelistSection.tsx
+++ b/panel/src/components/players/WhitelistSection.tsx
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
 import {
   CollapsibleSection,
   FeedbackLine,
+  LoadError,
   MC_NAME,
   PagerFooter,
   PlayerField,
@@ -145,7 +146,7 @@ export function WhitelistSection({ name, defaultOpen = false }: { name: string;
             <Loader2 className="h-3.5 w-3.5 animate-spin" /> {t("log_connecting")}
           </div>
         ) : error ? (
-          <p role="alert" className="text-xs text-destructive">{t("access_whitelist_load_error")}</p>
+          <LoadError message={t("access_whitelist_load_error")} error={error} />
         ) : players.length === 0 ? (
           <div className="rounded-md border border-dashed border-border bg-muted/20 px-4 py-8 text-center">
             <p className="text-sm text-muted-foreground">{t("access_whitelist_empty")}</p>
diff --git a/panel/src/components/players/shared.tsx b/panel/src/components/players/shared.tsx
index 6a832a1..a14665c 100644
--- a/panel/src/components/players/shared.tsx
+++ b/panel/src/components/players/shared.tsx
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import { Badge } from "@/components/ui/badge";
 import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
 import { Card } from "@/components/ui/card";
 import { Input } from "@/components/ui/input";
+import { humanizeError } from "@/lib/api";
 import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
 
 // MC_NAME mirrors the backend's mcNameRe (handlers_access.go): a Minecraft name is
@@ -45,6 +46,17 @@ export function FeedbackLine({ fb }: { fb: Feedback }) {
   );
 }
 
+/** LoadError says a section's list failed to load and why: a lapsed session, a
+ *  server mid-restart and an RCON refusal each want a different next step, so the
+ *  reason is shown with the message. The section header's refresh retries. */
+export function LoadError({ message, error }: { message: string; error: unknown }) {
+  return (
+    <p role="alert" className="text-xs text-destructive">
+      {message} {humanizeError(error)}
+    </p>
+  );
+}
+
 /** PlayerField is the shared player-name input: a controlled text box that enforces
  *  the access charset live (showing the rule only once the user has typed something
  *  wrong) and fires onEnter so the keyboard-only path works in every section. */