diff --git a/assets/js/main.js b/assets/js/main.js
index bf863f4..9c9bdc5 100644
--- a/assets/js/main.js
+++ b/assets/js/main.js
@@ -104,6 +104,19 @@ document.querySelectorAll('.card').forEach(card => {
         return String(url).replace(/\/+$/, '');
     };
 
+    const parsePossiblyUtf16Json = (text) => {
+        if (!text) return null;
+
+        // If server accidentally delivered UTF-16LE bytes, the browser may decode it with lots of \u0000.
+        // Remove NULs and common BOM remnants.
+        const cleaned = String(text)
+            .replace(/^\uFEFF/, '')
+            .replace(/\u0000/g, '')
+            .trim();
+
+        return JSON.parse(cleaned);
+    };
+
     const applyPayload = (payload) => {
         const byUrl = payload && payload.byUrl ? payload.byUrl : {};
         const byUrlNormalized = payload && payload.byUrlNormalized ? payload.byUrlNormalized : {};
@@ -136,15 +149,19 @@ document.querySelectorAll('.card').forEach(card => {
     const fetchAndApply = async () => {
         const res = await fetch('/server_status.php', { cache: 'no-store' });
         if (!res.ok) throw new Error('status_fetch_failed');
-        const payload = await res.json();
+
+        // Use text() + robust JSON parse to survive wrong encoding (UTF-16/NULs).
+        const text = await res.text();
+        const payload = parsePossiblyUtf16Json(text);
+        if (!payload) throw new Error('status_json_empty');
+
         applyPayload(payload);
     };
 
-    // Ziel: nach ~1s sichtbar springen (nicht sofort beim ersten Paint).
-    // Falls der Endpoint kurz hängt, probieren wir 1-2x nochmal.
-    const attempts = [1000, 2000, 3500];
-    for (let i = 0; i < attempts.length; i++) {
-        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, attempts[i]));
+    // Nach ~1s einmal aktualisieren, dann (falls nötig) 2 schnelle Retries.
+    const delays = [1000, 1000, 1500];
+    for (const d of delays) {
+        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, d));
         try {
             await fetchAndApply();
             break;