diff --git a/lighthouse-cli/test/fixtures/dobetterweb/dbw_tester.html b/lighthouse-cli/test/fixtures/dobetterweb/dbw_tester.html
index 546aa58e01f4..86a823bfce31 100644
--- a/lighthouse-cli/test/fixtures/dobetterweb/dbw_tester.html
+++ b/lighthouse-cli/test/fixtures/dobetterweb/dbw_tester.html
@@ -280,5 +280,7 @@ <h2>Do better web tester page</h2>
 }
 </script>
 
+<!-- Import zone.js to test Promise polyfill -->
+<script src="https://unpkg.com/zone.js?main=browser"></script>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/lighthouse-core/audits/dobetterweb/link-blocking-first-paint.js b/lighthouse-core/audits/dobetterweb/link-blocking-first-paint.js
index c8ea19f45f32..de8f5412e3a3 100644
--- a/lighthouse-core/audits/dobetterweb/link-blocking-first-paint.js
+++ b/lighthouse-core/audits/dobetterweb/link-blocking-first-paint.js
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ class LinkBlockingFirstPaintAudit extends Audit {
     if (typeof artifact === 'undefined' || artifact.value === -1) {
       return {
         rawValue: -1,
-        debugString: 'TagsBlockingFirstPaint gatherer did not run'
+        debugString: (artifact && artifact.debugString) ||
+            'TagsBlockingFirstPaint gatherer did not run'
       };
     }
 
diff --git a/lighthouse-core/gather/driver.js b/lighthouse-core/gather/driver.js
index 8b8c28685111..9592e1538c97 100644
--- a/lighthouse-core/gather/driver.js
+++ b/lighthouse-core/gather/driver.js
@@ -143,17 +143,49 @@ class Driver {
         (_ => reject(new Error('The asynchronous expression exceeded the allotted time of 60s'))),
         60000
       );
+
+      // The `exceptionDetails` provided by the debugger protocol does not contain the useful
+      // information such as name, message, and stack trace of the error when it's wrapped in a
+      // promise. Instead, map to a successful object that contains this information.
+      /* istanbul ignore next */
+      const errorWrapper = err => {
+        err = err || new Error();
+        const fallbackMessage = typeof err === 'string' ? err : 'unknown error';
+
+        resolve({
+          __failedInBrowser: true,
+          name: err.name || 'Error',
+          message: err.message || fallbackMessage,
+          stack: err.stack || (new Error()).stack,
+        });
+      };
+
       this.sendCommand('Runtime.evaluate', {
-        expression: asyncExpression,
+        expression: `(function wrapInNativePromise () {
+          var __nativePromise = window.__nativePromise || Promise;
+          return new __nativePromise(function (resolve) {
+            var wrapError = ${errorWrapper.toString()};
+            try {
+              __nativePromise.resolve(${asyncExpression}).then(resolve, wrapError);
+            } catch (e) {
+              wrapError(e);
+            }
+          });
+        }())`,
         includeCommandLineAPI: true,
         awaitPromise: true,
         returnByValue: true
       }).then(result => {
         clearTimeout(asyncTimeout);
+        const value = result.result.value;
+
         if (result.exceptionDetails) {
-          reject(result.exceptionDetails.exception.value);
+          // An error occurred before we could even enter our try block, should be *very* rare
+          reject(new Error('an unknown driver error occurred'));
+        } if (value.__failedInBrowser) {
+          reject(Object.assign(new Error(), value));
         } else {
-          resolve(result.result.value);
+          resolve(value);
         }
       }).catch(err => {
         clearTimeout(asyncTimeout);
diff --git a/lighthouse-core/gather/gather-runner.js b/lighthouse-core/gather/gather-runner.js
index 814bbce79ea8..83e8f24a63e8 100644
--- a/lighthouse-core/gather/gather-runner.js
+++ b/lighthouse-core/gather/gather-runner.js
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ class GatherRunner {
     return driver.assertNoSameOriginServiceWorkerClients(options.url)
       .then(_ => driver.beginEmulation(options.flags))
       .then(_ => driver.enableRuntimeEvents())
+      .then(_ => driver.evaluateScriptOnLoad('window.__nativePromise = Promise;'))
       .then(_ => driver.cleanAndDisableBrowserCaches())
       .then(_ => driver.clearDataForOrigin(options.url));
   }
diff --git a/lighthouse-core/gather/gatherers/accessibility.js b/lighthouse-core/gather/gatherers/accessibility.js
index 20292f4b9407..56b01b237033 100644
--- a/lighthouse-core/gather/gatherers/accessibility.js
+++ b/lighthouse-core/gather/gatherers/accessibility.js
@@ -43,9 +43,13 @@ class Accessibility extends Gatherer {
 
   afterPass(options) {
     const driver = options.driver;
+    const expression = `(function () {
+      ${axe};
+      return (${runA11yChecks.toString()}());
+    })()`;
 
     return driver
-        .evaluateAsync(`${axe};(${runA11yChecks.toString()}())`)
+        .evaluateAsync(expression)
         .then(returnedValue => {
           if (!returnedValue) {
             this.artifact = Accessibility._errorAccessibility('Unable to parse axe results');
diff --git a/lighthouse-core/gather/gatherers/dobetterweb/tags-blocking-first-paint.js b/lighthouse-core/gather/gatherers/dobetterweb/tags-blocking-first-paint.js
index cb0603c19644..bd42536f5d63 100644
--- a/lighthouse-core/gather/gatherers/dobetterweb/tags-blocking-first-paint.js
+++ b/lighthouse-core/gather/gatherers/dobetterweb/tags-blocking-first-paint.js
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ function collectTagsThatBlockFirstPaint() {
         });
       resolve(tagList);
     } catch (e) {
-      reject(`Unable to gather Scripts/Stylesheets/HTML Imports on the page: ${e.message}`);
+      const friendly = 'Unable to gather Scripts/Stylesheets/HTML Imports on the page';
+      reject(new Error(`${friendly}: ${e.message}`));
     }
   });
 }
@@ -117,10 +118,10 @@ class TagsBlockingFirstPaint extends Gatherer {
       .then(artifact => {
         this.artifact = artifact;
       })
-      .catch(debugString => {
+      .catch(err => {
         this.artifact = {
           value: -1,
-          debugString
+          debugString: err.toString()
         };
       });
   }
diff --git a/lighthouse-core/test/gather/fake-driver.js b/lighthouse-core/test/gather/fake-driver.js
index c27a06c40e5e..8ecc48c59a3b 100644
--- a/lighthouse-core/test/gather/fake-driver.js
+++ b/lighthouse-core/test/gather/fake-driver.js
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ module.exports = {
   enableRuntimeEvents() {
     return Promise.resolve();
   },
+  evaluateScriptOnLoad() {
+    return Promise.resolve();
+  },
   cleanAndDisableBrowserCaches() {},
   clearDataForOrigin() {},
   beginTrace() {