Made some changes to authentication requests to give better message if server is down!

src/aare/gui/auth.py

@@ -17,26 +17,49 @@ def auth(base_url: str | None) -> str:
                                pgroups=["p16371", "p22233"])
         return jwt.encode(token_data.model_dump(), "ABC123")
 
+    url = f"{base_url}/token"
     try:
         response = requests.post(
-            f"{base_url}/token",
+            url,
             data={
                 "username": curr_user,
                 "password": ""
             },
             headers={
                 "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
-            }
+            },
+            timeout=(2.0, 5.0),  # (connect timeout, read timeout)
         )
-        if response.status_code == 200:
-            response_json = response.json()
-            if "access_token" in response_json:
-                return response_json["access_token"]
-        else:
-            logger.error(f"Authentication request failed: {response.content}")
-            raise Exception("Authentication request failed")
-
     except requests.RequestException as e:
-        logger.error(f"Authentication request failed: {e}")
+        logger.error(f"Authentication request failed (network): {e}")
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            "Cannot reach AareDAQ server (network error). "
+            "Please check the server is running and your connection."
+        ) from e
 
-    return ""
+    if response.status_code != 200:
+        # Avoid dumping full HTML/tracebacks into the GUI; keep it short and actionable
+        logger.error(f"Authentication request failed: HTTP {response.status_code}. Body: {response.text[:500]}")
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"Authentication failed (HTTP {response.status_code}). "
+            "The server may be starting up or unavailable."
+        )
+
+    try:
+        response_json = response.json()
+    except ValueError as e:
+        logger.error(f"Authentication response was not JSON. Body: {response.text[:500]}")
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            "Authentication failed (invalid server response). "
+            "The server may be starting up or misconfigured."
+        ) from e
+
+    token = response_json.get("access_token")
+    if not token or not isinstance(token, str):
+        logger.error(f"Authentication response missing access_token. Keys: {list(response_json.keys())}")
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            "Authentication failed (missing token in server response). "
+            "The server may be starting up."
+        )
+
+    return token