diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/base.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/base.py
index 7c7d51077b..67a80d5785 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/base.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/base.py
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@ class InternalMetadataCompareKeyGen(object):
         exact_title = 1 if title and \
                 cleanup_title(title) == cleanup_title(mi.title) else 2
 
-        has_cover = 2 if source_plugin.get_cached_cover_url(mi.identifiers)\
-                is None else 1
+        has_cover = 2 if (not source_plugin.cached_cover_url_is_reliable or
+                source_plugin.get_cached_cover_url(mi.identifiers) is None) else 1
 
         self.base = (isbn, has_cover, all_fields, exact_title)
         self.comments_len = len(mi.comments.strip() if mi.comments else '')
@@ -157,6 +157,12 @@ class Source(Plugin):
     #: correctly first
     supports_gzip_transfer_encoding = False
 
+    #: Cached cover URLs can sometimes be unreliable (i.e. the download could
+    #: fail or the returned image could be bogus. If that is the case set this to
+    #: False
+    cached_cover_url_is_reliable = True
+
+
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         Plugin.__init__(self, *args, **kwargs)
         self._isbn_to_identifier_cache = {}
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/google.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/google.py
index 34753cf35f..4133d4d527 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/google.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/google.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2011, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
-import time
+import time, hashlib
 from urllib import urlencode
 from functools import partial
 from Queue import Queue, Empty
@@ -164,9 +164,12 @@ class GoogleBooks(Source):
         'comments', 'publisher', 'identifier:isbn', 'rating',
         'identifier:google']) # language currently disabled
     supports_gzip_transfer_encoding = True
+    cached_cover_url_is_reliable = False
 
     GOOGLE_COVER = 'http://books.google.com/books?id=%s&printsec=frontcover&img=1'
 
+    DUMMY_IMAGE_MD5 = frozenset(['0de4383ebad0adad5eeb8975cd796657'])
+
     def get_book_url(self, identifiers): # {{{
         goog = identifiers.get('google', None)
         if goog is not None:
@@ -235,7 +238,11 @@ class GoogleBooks(Source):
         log('Downloading cover from:', cached_url)
         try:
             cdata = br.open_novisit(cached_url, timeout=timeout).read()
-            result_queue.put((self, cdata))
+            if cdata:
+                if hashlib.md5(cdata).hexdigest() in self.DUMMY_IMAGE_MD5:
+                    log.warning('Google returned a dummy image, ignoring')
+                else:
+                    result_queue.put((self, cdata))
         except:
             log.exception('Failed to download cover from:', cached_url)
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/identify.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/identify.py
index 784977b82c..cd658a0daf 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/identify.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/identify.py
@@ -338,8 +338,9 @@ def identify(log, abort, # {{{
 
         for i, result in enumerate(presults):
             result.relevance_in_source = i
-            result.has_cached_cover_url = \
-                plugin.get_cached_cover_url(result.identifiers) is not None
+            result.has_cached_cover_url = (plugin.cached_cover_url_is_reliable
+                    and plugin.get_cached_cover_url(result.identifiers) is not
+                    None)
             result.identify_plugin = plugin
 
     log('The identify phase took %.2f seconds'%(time.time() - start_time))
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py
index 16fb1b42f2..9b59b57e13 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py
@@ -180,6 +180,13 @@ class ResultsModel(QAbstractTableModel): # {{{
                 return self.yes_icon
         elif role == Qt.UserRole:
             return book
+        elif role == Qt.ToolTipRole and col == 3:
+            return QVariant(
+                _('The has cover indication is not fully\n'
+                    'reliable. Sometimes results marked as not\n'
+                    'having a cover will find a cover in the download\n'
+                    'cover stage, and vice versa.'))
+
         return NONE
 
     def sort(self, col, order=Qt.AscendingOrder):
@@ -769,7 +776,7 @@ class LogViewer(QDialog): # {{{
         self.keep_updating = True
         self.last_html = None
         self.finished.connect(self.stop)
-        QTimer.singleShot(1000, self.update_log)
+        QTimer.singleShot(100, self.update_log)
 
         self.show()
 
@@ -785,7 +792,7 @@ class LogViewer(QDialog): # {{{
         html = self.log.html
         if html != self.last_html:
             self.last_html = html
-            self.tb.setHtml('<pre>%s</pre>'%html)
+            self.tb.setHtml('<pre style="font-family:monospace">%s</pre>'%html)
         QTimer.singleShot(1000, self.update_log)
 
 # }}}
@@ -885,5 +892,5 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     #DEBUG_DIALOG = True
     app = QApplication([])
     d = FullFetch()
-    d.start(title='jurassic', authors=['crichton'])
+    d.start(title='great gatsby', authors=['fitzgerald'])
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/logging.py b/src/calibre/utils/logging.py
index dbbca6806b..46b843565e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/logging.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/logging.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ class HTMLStream(Stream):
     color = {
             DEBUG: '<span style="color:green">',
             INFO:'<span>',
-            WARN: '<span style="color:yellow">',
+            WARN: '<span style="color:blue">',
             ERROR: '<span style="color:red">'
             }
     normal = '</span>'