diff --git a/Lib/codecs.py b/Lib/codecs.py
index c09f804..5c669c0 100644
--- a/Lib/codecs.py
+++ b/Lib/codecs.py
@@ -11,7 +11,11 @@
 
 ### Registry and builtin stateless codec functions
 
-from _codecs import *
+try:
+    from _codecs import *
+except ImportError,why:
+    raise SystemError,\
+          'Failed to load the builtin codecs: %s' % why
 
 ### Constants