diff --git a/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go b/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go
index 4deb081ed..b409b1926 100644
--- a/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go
+++ b/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go
@@ -694,41 +694,19 @@ func showMetaData(ctx *cli.Context) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Error accessing ancients: %v", err)
 	}
-	pp := func(val *uint64) string {
-		if val == nil {
-			return "<nil>"
-		}
-		return fmt.Sprintf("%d (%#x)", *val, *val)
-	}
-	data := [][]string{
-		{"databaseVersion", pp(rawdb.ReadDatabaseVersion(db))},
-		{"headBlockHash", fmt.Sprintf("%v", rawdb.ReadHeadBlockHash(db))},
-		{"headFastBlockHash", fmt.Sprintf("%v", rawdb.ReadHeadFastBlockHash(db))},
-		{"headHeaderHash", fmt.Sprintf("%v", rawdb.ReadHeadHeaderHash(db))}}
+	data := rawdb.ReadChainMetadata(db)
+	data = append(data, []string{"frozen", fmt.Sprintf("%d items", ancients)})
+	data = append(data, []string{"snapshotGenerator", snapshot.ParseGeneratorStatus(rawdb.ReadSnapshotGenerator(db))})
 	if b := rawdb.ReadHeadBlock(db); b != nil {
 		data = append(data, []string{"headBlock.Hash", fmt.Sprintf("%v", b.Hash())})
 		data = append(data, []string{"headBlock.Root", fmt.Sprintf("%v", b.Root())})
 		data = append(data, []string{"headBlock.Number", fmt.Sprintf("%d (%#x)", b.Number(), b.Number())})
 	}
-	if b := rawdb.ReadSkeletonSyncStatus(db); b != nil {
-		data = append(data, []string{"SkeletonSyncStatus", string(b)})
-	}
 	if h := rawdb.ReadHeadHeader(db); h != nil {
 		data = append(data, []string{"headHeader.Hash", fmt.Sprintf("%v", h.Hash())})
 		data = append(data, []string{"headHeader.Root", fmt.Sprintf("%v", h.Root)})
 		data = append(data, []string{"headHeader.Number", fmt.Sprintf("%d (%#x)", h.Number, h.Number)})
 	}
-	data = append(data, [][]string{{"frozen", fmt.Sprintf("%d items", ancients)},
-		{"lastPivotNumber", pp(rawdb.ReadLastPivotNumber(db))},
-		{"len(snapshotSyncStatus)", fmt.Sprintf("%d bytes", len(rawdb.ReadSnapshotSyncStatus(db)))},
-		{"snapshotGenerator", snapshot.ParseGeneratorStatus(rawdb.ReadSnapshotGenerator(db))},
-		{"snapshotDisabled", fmt.Sprintf("%v", rawdb.ReadSnapshotDisabled(db))},
-		{"snapshotJournal", fmt.Sprintf("%d bytes", len(rawdb.ReadSnapshotJournal(db)))},
-		{"snapshotRecoveryNumber", pp(rawdb.ReadSnapshotRecoveryNumber(db))},
-		{"snapshotRoot", fmt.Sprintf("%v", rawdb.ReadSnapshotRoot(db))},
-		{"txIndexTail", pp(rawdb.ReadTxIndexTail(db))},
-		{"fastTxLookupLimit", pp(rawdb.ReadFastTxLookupLimit(db))},
-	}...)
 	table := tablewriter.NewWriter(os.Stdout)
 	table.SetHeader([]string{"Field", "Value"})
 	table.AppendBulk(data)
diff --git a/core/rawdb/database.go b/core/rawdb/database.go
index 5b7299f38..6c545032f 100644
--- a/core/rawdb/database.go
+++ b/core/rawdb/database.go
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ func NewDatabaseWithFreezer(db ethdb.KeyValueStore, ancient string, namespace st
 	// Create the idle freezer instance
 	frdb, err := newChainFreezer(resolveChainFreezerDir(ancient), namespace, readonly)
 	if err != nil {
+		printChainMetadata(db)
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	// Since the freezer can be stored separately from the user's key-value database,
@@ -233,8 +234,10 @@ func NewDatabaseWithFreezer(db ethdb.KeyValueStore, ancient string, namespace st
 			// the freezer and the key-value store.
 			frgenesis, err := frdb.Ancient(ChainFreezerHashTable, 0)
 			if err != nil {
+				printChainMetadata(db)
 				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to retrieve genesis from ancient %v", err)
 			} else if !bytes.Equal(kvgenesis, frgenesis) {
+				printChainMetadata(db)
 				return nil, fmt.Errorf("genesis mismatch: %#x (leveldb) != %#x (ancients)", kvgenesis, frgenesis)
 			}
 			// Key-value store and freezer belong to the same network. Ensure that they
@@ -242,8 +245,19 @@ func NewDatabaseWithFreezer(db ethdb.KeyValueStore, ancient string, namespace st
 			if kvhash, _ := db.Get(headerHashKey(frozen)); len(kvhash) == 0 {
 				// Subsequent header after the freezer limit is missing from the database.
 				// Reject startup if the database has a more recent head.
-				if ldbNum := *ReadHeaderNumber(db, ReadHeadHeaderHash(db)); ldbNum > frozen-1 {
-					return nil, fmt.Errorf("gap in the chain between ancients (#%d) and leveldb (#%d) ", frozen, ldbNum)
+				if head := *ReadHeaderNumber(db, ReadHeadHeaderHash(db)); head > frozen-1 {
+					// Find the smallest block stored in the key-value store
+					// in range of [frozen, head]
+					var number uint64
+					for number = frozen; number <= head; number++ {
+						if present, _ := db.Has(headerHashKey(number)); present {
+							break
+						}
+					}
+					// We are about to exit on error. Print database metdata beore exiting
+					printChainMetadata(db)
+					return nil, fmt.Errorf("gap in the chain between ancients [0 - #%d] and leveldb [#%d - #%d] ",
+						frozen-1, number, head)
 				}
 				// Database contains only older data than the freezer, this happens if the
 				// state was wiped and reinited from an existing freezer.
@@ -260,6 +274,7 @@ func NewDatabaseWithFreezer(db ethdb.KeyValueStore, ancient string, namespace st
 				// Key-value store contains more data than the genesis block, make sure we
 				// didn't freeze anything yet.
 				if kvblob, _ := db.Get(headerHashKey(1)); len(kvblob) == 0 {
+					printChainMetadata(db)
 					return nil, errors.New("ancient chain segments already extracted, please set --datadir.ancient to the correct path")
 				}
 				// Block #1 is still in the database, we're allowed to init a new freezer
@@ -581,3 +596,42 @@ func InspectDatabase(db ethdb.Database, keyPrefix, keyStart []byte) error {
 	}
 	return nil
 }
+
+// printChainMetadata prints out chain metadata to stderr.
+func printChainMetadata(db ethdb.KeyValueStore) {
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Chain metadata\n")
+	for _, v := range ReadChainMetadata(db) {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "  %s\n", strings.Join(v, ": "))
+	}
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "\n\n")
+}
+
+// ReadChainMetadata returns a set of key/value pairs that contains informatin
+// about the database chain status. This can be used for diagnostic purposes
+// when investigating the state of the node.
+func ReadChainMetadata(db ethdb.KeyValueStore) [][]string {
+	pp := func(val *uint64) string {
+		if val == nil {
+			return "<nil>"
+		}
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%d (%#x)", *val, *val)
+	}
+	data := [][]string{
+		{"databaseVersion", pp(ReadDatabaseVersion(db))},
+		{"headBlockHash", fmt.Sprintf("%v", ReadHeadBlockHash(db))},
+		{"headFastBlockHash", fmt.Sprintf("%v", ReadHeadFastBlockHash(db))},
+		{"headHeaderHash", fmt.Sprintf("%v", ReadHeadHeaderHash(db))},
+		{"lastPivotNumber", pp(ReadLastPivotNumber(db))},
+		{"len(snapshotSyncStatus)", fmt.Sprintf("%d bytes", len(ReadSnapshotSyncStatus(db)))},
+		{"snapshotDisabled", fmt.Sprintf("%v", ReadSnapshotDisabled(db))},
+		{"snapshotJournal", fmt.Sprintf("%d bytes", len(ReadSnapshotJournal(db)))},
+		{"snapshotRecoveryNumber", pp(ReadSnapshotRecoveryNumber(db))},
+		{"snapshotRoot", fmt.Sprintf("%v", ReadSnapshotRoot(db))},
+		{"txIndexTail", pp(ReadTxIndexTail(db))},
+		{"fastTxLookupLimit", pp(ReadFastTxLookupLimit(db))},
+	}
+	if b := ReadSkeletonSyncStatus(db); b != nil {
+		data = append(data, []string{"SkeletonSyncStatus", string(b)})
+	}
+	return data
+}