diff --git a/avocado/core/html.py b/avocado/core/html.py
index a51ff1fdcd008786605d9c9ca8409fed712efb6f..19e1b2b717e1f6c8a7fb04ab96954dca4131afa9 100644
--- a/avocado/core/html.py
+++ b/avocado/core/html.py
@@ -182,9 +182,9 @@ class ReportModel(object):
                     sysinfo_dict['contents'] = sysinfo_file.read()
                     sysinfo_dict['element_id'] = '%s_heading_%s' % (phase, s_id)
                     sysinfo_dict['collapse_id'] = '%s_collapse_%s' % (phase, s_id)
-            except OSError:
-                sysinfo_dict[s_f] = ('Error reading sysinfo file %s' %
-                                     sysinfo_path)
+            except (OSError, UnicodeDecodeError) as details:
+                sysinfo_dict[s_f] = ('Error reading sysinfo file %s: %s' %
+                                     (sysinfo_path, details))
             sysinfo_list.append(sysinfo_dict)
             s_id += 1
         return sysinfo_list
diff --git a/avocado/core/remote/runner.py b/avocado/core/remote/runner.py
index eeeb1346788fc85027c2643088853977e9121bee..b70f66c320604bc2e54682c8518c8e83940de95b 100644
--- a/avocado/core/remote/runner.py
+++ b/avocado/core/remote/runner.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ class RemoteTestRunner(TestRunner):
 
     # Let's use re.MULTILINE because sometimes servers might have MOTD
     # that will introduce a line break on output.
-    remote_version_re = re.compile(r'^Avocado (\d+)\.(\d+)$',
+    remote_version_re = re.compile(r'^Avocado (\d+)\.(\d+)\r?$',
                                    re.MULTILINE)
 
     def __init__(self, job, test_result):