diff --git a/src/backend/backend.ts b/src/backend/backend.ts
index d85cd267..1a04c7bc 100644
--- a/src/backend/backend.ts
+++ b/src/backend/backend.ts
@@ -123,3 +123,38 @@ export class VariableObject {
 		return res;
 	}
 }
+
+// from https://gist.github.com/justmoon/15511f92e5216fa2624b#gistcomment-1928632
+export interface MIError extends Error {
+	readonly name: string;
+	readonly message: string;
+	readonly source: string;
+};
+export interface MIErrorConstructor {
+	new (message: string, source: string): MIError;
+	readonly prototype: MIError;
+}
+
+export const MIError: MIErrorConstructor = <any>class MIError {
+	readonly name: string;
+	readonly message: string;
+	readonly source: string;
+	public constructor(message: string, source: string) {
+		Object.defineProperty(this, 'name', {
+			get: () => (this.constructor as any).name,
+		});
+		Object.defineProperty(this, 'message', {
+			get: () => message,
+		});
+		Object.defineProperty(this, 'source', {
+			get: () => source,
+		});
+		Error.captureStackTrace(this, this.constructor);
+	}
+
+	public toString() {
+		return `${this.message} (from ${this.source})`;
+	}
+};
+Object.setPrototypeOf(MIError as any, Object.create(Error.prototype));
+MIError.prototype.constructor = MIError;
diff --git a/src/backend/mi2/mi2.ts b/src/backend/mi2/mi2.ts
index 9a895940..18bd5ca3 100644
--- a/src/backend/mi2/mi2.ts
+++ b/src/backend/mi2/mi2.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { Breakpoint, IBackend, Stack, SSHArguments, Variable, VariableObject } from "../backend"
+import { Breakpoint, IBackend, Stack, SSHArguments, Variable, VariableObject, MIError } from "../backend"
 import * as ChildProcess from "child_process"
 import { EventEmitter } from "events"
 import { parseMI, MINode } from '../mi_parse';
@@ -679,7 +679,7 @@ export class MI2 extends EventEmitter implements IBackend {
 			this.log("stderr", "varListChildren");
 		//TODO: add `from` and `to` arguments
 		const res = await this.sendCommand(`var-list-children --all-values ${name}`);
-		const children = res.result("children");
+		const children = res.result("children") || [];
 		let omg: VariableObject[] = children.map(child => new VariableObject(child[1]));
 		return omg;
 	}
@@ -729,11 +729,11 @@ export class MI2 extends EventEmitter implements IBackend {
 			this.handlers[sel] = (node: MINode) => {
 				if (node && node.resultRecords && node.resultRecords.resultClass === "error") {
 					if (suppressFailure) {
-						this.log("stderr", "WARNING: Error executing command '" + command + "'");
+						this.log("stderr", `WARNING: Error executing command '${command}'`);
 						resolve(node);
 					}
 					else
-						reject((node.result("msg") || "Internal error") + " (from " + command + ")");
+						reject(new MIError(node.result("msg") || "Internal error", command));
 				}
 				else
 					resolve(node);
diff --git a/src/mibase.ts b/src/mibase.ts
index aaeef587..0b623fd8 100644
--- a/src/mibase.ts
+++ b/src/mibase.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { DebugSession, InitializedEvent, TerminatedEvent, StoppedEvent, OutputEvent, Thread, StackFrame, Scope, Source, Handles } from 'vscode-debugadapter';
 import { DebugProtocol } from 'vscode-debugprotocol';
-import { Breakpoint, IBackend, Variable, VariableObject, ValuesFormattingMode } from './backend/backend';
+import { Breakpoint, IBackend, Variable, VariableObject, ValuesFormattingMode, MIError } from './backend/backend';
 import { MINode } from './backend/mi_parse';
 import { expandValue, isExpandable } from './backend/gdb_expansion';
 import { MI2 } from './backend/mi2/mi2';
@@ -335,24 +335,30 @@ export class MI2DebugSession extends DebugSession {
 				for (const variable of stack) {
 					if (this.useVarObjects) {
 						try {
+							let varObjName = `var_${variable.name}`;
 							let varObj: VariableObject;
 							try {
-								const changes = await this.miDebugger.varUpdate(variable.name);
+								const changes = await this.miDebugger.varUpdate(varObjName);
 								const changelist = changes.result("changelist");
 								changelist.forEach((change) => {
 									const name = MINode.valueOf(change, "name");
-									const vId = this.variableHandlesReverse[variable.name];
+									const vId = this.variableHandlesReverse[varObjName];
 									const v = this.variableHandles.get(vId) as any;
 									v.applyChanges(change);
 								});
-								const varId = this.variableHandlesReverse[variable.name];
+								const varId = this.variableHandlesReverse[varObjName];
 								varObj = this.variableHandles.get(varId) as any;
 							}
 							catch (err) {
-								varObj = await this.miDebugger.varCreate(variable.name, variable.name);
-								const varId = findOrCreateVariable(varObj);
-								varObj.exp = variable.name;
-								varObj.id = varId;
+								if (err instanceof MIError && err.message == "Variable object not found") {
+									varObj = await this.miDebugger.varCreate(variable.name, varObjName);
+									const varId = findOrCreateVariable(varObj);
+									varObj.exp = variable.name;
+									varObj.id = varId;
+								}
+								else {
+									throw err;
+								}
 							}
 							variables.push(varObj.toProtocolVariable());
 						}