diff --git a/react/containers/ChannelCreateForm/view.jsx b/react/containers/ChannelCreateForm/view.jsx
index 4d26562c..54099185 100644
--- a/react/containers/ChannelCreateForm/view.jsx
+++ b/react/containers/ChannelCreateForm/view.jsx
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ class ChannelCreateForm extends React.Component {
     } else {
       this.setState({error: 'Please enter a channel name'});
     }
-    console.log('end of handlechannelinput');
   }
   handleInput (event) {
     const name = event.target.name;
@@ -61,11 +60,10 @@ class ChannelCreateForm extends React.Component {
     return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
       makeGetRequest(`/api/channel-is-available/${channelWithAtSymbol}`)
         .then(isAvailable => {
+          console.log('checkIsChannelAvailable result:', isAvailable);
           if (!isAvailable) {
-            console.log('channel is not available');
             return reject(new Error('That channel has already been claimed'));
           }
-          console.log('channel is available');
           resolve();
         })
         .catch((error) => {
@@ -89,6 +87,7 @@ class ChannelCreateForm extends React.Component {
     return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
       makePostRequest('/signup', params)
         .then(result => {
+          console.log('makePublishChannelRequest result:', result);
           return resolve(result);
         })
         .catch(error => {
diff --git a/react/containers/ChannelLoginForm/view.jsx b/react/containers/ChannelLoginForm/view.jsx
index f1b6b69e..4cb04a38 100644
--- a/react/containers/ChannelLoginForm/view.jsx
+++ b/react/containers/ChannelLoginForm/view.jsx
@@ -20,11 +20,15 @@ class ChannelLoginForm extends React.Component {
   loginToChannel (event) {
     event.preventDefault();
     const params = `username=${this.state.name}&password=${this.state.password}`;
-    const url = '/login';
     const that = this;
-    makePostRequest(url, params)
+    makePostRequest('login', params)
       .then(result => {
-        that.props.onChannelLogin(result.channelName, result.shortChannelId, result.channelClaimId);
+        console.log('loginToChannel result:', result);
+        if (result.success) {
+          that.props.onChannelLogin(result.channelName, result.shortChannelId, result.channelClaimId);
+        } else {
+          that.setState({'error': result.message});
+        };
       })
       .catch(error => {
         console.log('login error', error);
diff --git a/react/containers/PublishUrlInput/view.jsx b/react/containers/PublishUrlInput/view.jsx
index 7d100eaf..e1b4086a 100644
--- a/react/containers/PublishUrlInput/view.jsx
+++ b/react/containers/PublishUrlInput/view.jsx
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ class PublishUrlInput extends React.Component {
     const that = this;
     makeGetRequest(`/api/claim-is-available/${claim}`)
       .then(response => {
+        console.log('makeGetRequest response:', response);
         if (response) {
           that.props.onUrlError(null);
         } else {
diff --git a/react/utils/auth.js b/react/utils/auth.js
index 1b0deeae..903b20dc 100644
--- a/react/utils/auth.js
+++ b/react/utils/auth.js
@@ -2,8 +2,7 @@ import {makeGetRequest} from 'utils/xhr';
 
 module.exports = {
   authenticateUser () {
-    // send authentication request to server
-    // receive the user info back
+    // send request to server & receive the user info back
     return makeGetRequest('/user');
   },
 };
diff --git a/react/utils/xhr.js b/react/utils/xhr.js
index b4f8a7c3..f786d289 100644
--- a/react/utils/xhr.js
+++ b/react/utils/xhr.js
@@ -6,14 +6,9 @@ module.exports = {
       xhttp.responseType = 'json';
       xhttp.onreadystatechange = () => {
         if (xhttp.readyState === 4) {
-          if (xhttp.status === 200) {
-            resolve(xhttp.response);
-          } if (xhttp.status === 401) {
-            reject(new Error('Wrong username or password'));
-          } else {
-            reject(new Error(xhttp.response));
-          }
-        }
+          console.log('makeGetRequest response:', xhttp.response);
+          resolve(xhttp.response);
+        };
       };
       xhttp.send();
     });
@@ -26,14 +21,9 @@ module.exports = {
       xhttp.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
       xhttp.onreadystatechange = () => {
         if (xhttp.readyState === 4) {
-          if (xhttp.status === 200) {
-            resolve(xhttp.response);
-          } if (xhttp.status === 401) {
-            reject(new Error('Wrong username or password'));
-          } else {
-            reject(new Error(xhttp.response));
-          }
-        }
+          console.log('makePostRequest response:', xhttp.response);
+          resolve(xhttp.response);
+        };
       };
       xhttp.send(params);
     });
diff --git a/routes/auth-routes.js b/routes/auth-routes.js
index ff50a356..62e89bf9 100644
--- a/routes/auth-routes.js
+++ b/routes/auth-routes.js
@@ -13,15 +13,31 @@ module.exports = (app) => {
     });
   });
   // route for log in
-  app.post('/login', passport.authenticate('local-login'), (req, res) => {
-    // logger.debug('req.user:', req.user);  // req.user contains the authenticated user's info
-    logger.debug('successful login');
-    res.status(200).json({
-      success       : true,
-      channelName   : req.user.channelName,
-      channelClaimId: req.user.channelClaimId,
-      shortChannelId: req.user.shortChannelId,
-    });
+  app.post('/login', (req, res, next) => {
+    passport.authenticate('local-login', (err, user, info) => {
+      logger.debug('info:', info);
+      if (err) {
+        return next(err);
+      }
+      if (!user) {
+        return res.status(200).json({
+          success: false,
+          message: info.message,
+        });
+      }
+      logger.debug('successful login');
+      req.logIn(user, (err) => {
+        if (err) {
+          return next(err);
+        }
+        return res.status(200).json({
+          success       : true,
+          channelName   : req.user.channelName,
+          channelClaimId: req.user.channelClaimId,
+          shortChannelId: req.user.shortChannelId,
+        });
+      });
+    })(req, res, next);
   });
   // see if user is authenticated, and return credentials if so
   app.get('/user', (req, res) => {