diff --git a/packages/react-dev-utils/formatWebpackMessages.js b/packages/react-dev-utils/formatWebpackMessages.js
index c40691b7c6b..88834a9fc62 100644
--- a/packages/react-dev-utils/formatWebpackMessages.js
+++ b/packages/react-dev-utils/formatWebpackMessages.js
@@ -24,12 +24,6 @@ function isLikelyASyntaxError(message) {
 function formatMessage(message) {
   var lines = message.split('\n');
 
-  // line #0 is filename
-  // line #1 is the main error message
-  if (!lines[0] || !lines[1]) {
-    return message;
-  }
-
   // Remove webpack-specific loader notation from filename.
   // Before:
   // ./~/css-loader!./~/postcss-loader!./src/App.css
@@ -39,6 +33,12 @@ function formatMessage(message) {
     lines[0] = lines[0].substr(lines[0].lastIndexOf('!') + 1);
   }
 
+  // line #0 is filename
+  // line #1 is the main error message
+  if (!lines[0] || !lines[1]) {
+    return lines.join('\n');
+  }
+
   // Cleans up verbose "module not found" messages for files and packages.
   if (lines[1].indexOf('Module not found: ') === 0) {
     lines = [