diff --git a/javascript/logMonitor.js b/javascript/logMonitor.js
index 19d8290ff..9138f08de 100644
--- a/javascript/logMonitor.js
+++ b/javascript/logMonitor.js
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ function htmlEscape(text) {
 
 async function logMonitor() {
   const addLogLine = (line) => {
+    if (!logMonitorEl) logMonitorEl = document.getElementById('logMonitorData');
     try {
       const l = JSON.parse(line.replaceAll('\n', ' ').replaceAll('\\', '\\\\'));
       const row = document.createElement('tr');
@@ -128,6 +129,6 @@ async function initLogMonitor() {
   authFetch(`${window.api}/start?agent=${encodeURI(navigator.userAgent)}`);
   logMonitor();
   const t1 = performance.now();
-  log('initLogMonitor', Math.round(t1 - t0));
+  log('initLogMonitor', { show: opts.logmonitor_show, time: Math.round(t1 - t0) });
   timer('initLogMonitor', t1 - t0);
 }
diff --git a/javascript/logger.js b/javascript/logger.js
index 52dcf84b1..e35ecdb96 100644
--- a/javascript/logger.js
+++ b/javascript/logger.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ const log = async (...msg) => {
   const dt = new Date();
   const ts = `${dt.getHours().toString().padStart(2, '0')}:${dt.getMinutes().toString().padStart(2, '0')}:${dt.getSeconds().toString().padStart(2, '0')}.${dt.getMilliseconds().toString().padStart(3, '0')}`;
   if (window.logger) {
-    window.logger.innerHTML += window.logPrettyPrint(...msg);
+    if (window.logPrettyPrint) window.logger.innerHTML += window.logPrettyPrint(...msg);
     scrollBottom(window.logger);
   }
   console.log(ts, ...msg);
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ const debug = async (...msg) => {
   const dt = new Date();
   const ts = `${dt.getHours().toString().padStart(2, '0')}:${dt.getMinutes().toString().padStart(2, '0')}:${dt.getSeconds().toString().padStart(2, '0')}.${dt.getMilliseconds().toString().padStart(3, '0')}`;
   if (window.logger) {
-    window.logger.innerHTML += window.logPrettyPrint(...msg);
+    if (window.logPrettyPrint) window.logger.innerHTML += window.logPrettyPrint(...msg);
     scrollBottom(window.logger);
   }
   console.debug(ts, ...msg);
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ const error = async (...msg) => {
   const dt = new Date();
   const ts = `${dt.getHours().toString().padStart(2, '0')}:${dt.getMinutes().toString().padStart(2, '0')}:${dt.getSeconds().toString().padStart(2, '0')}.${dt.getMilliseconds().toString().padStart(3, '0')}`;
   if (window.logger) {
-    window.logger.innerHTML += window.logPrettyPrint(...msg);
+    if (window.logPrettyPrint) window.logger.innerHTML += window.logPrettyPrint(...msg);
     scrollBottom(window.logger);
   }
   console.error(ts, ...msg);
diff --git a/javascript/startup.js b/javascript/startup.js
index 45411b2d0..ec5be45a9 100644
--- a/javascript/startup.js
+++ b/javascript/startup.js
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ async function initStartup() {
     window.api = `${window.subpath}/sdapi/v1`;
   }
 
+  startupPromises.push(initLogMonitor());
+
   executeCallbacks(uiReadyCallbacks);
 
   // optinally wait for modern ui
@@ -80,7 +82,6 @@ async function initStartup() {
   startupPromises.push(setHints());
   startupPromises.push(applyStyles());
   startupPromises.push(initIndexDB());
-  startupPromises.push(initLogMonitor());
   startupPromises.push(initTableSorter());
 
   t1 = performance.now();