diff --git a/R/z_animintHelpers.R b/R/z_animintHelpers.R
index 97cce5a7f..fe4f09fe8 100644
--- a/R/z_animintHelpers.R
+++ b/R/z_animintHelpers.R
@@ -418,6 +418,11 @@ compute_domains <- function(built_data, axes, geom_name,
                    geom_name), call. = FALSE)
     return(NULL)
   }else if(!all(use_cols %in% names(built_data))){
+    missing <- use_cols[!use_cols %in% names(built_data)]
+    warning(paste0(
+    "Cannot compute axis domain for geom_", geom_name,
+    ": column(s) ", paste(missing, collapse=", "),
+    " not found in the pre-stat layer data."), call. = FALSE)
     return(NULL)
   }
   domain_vals <- list()
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-renderer3-update-axes-geom-bar.R b/tests/testthat/test-renderer3-update-axes-geom-bar.R
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..98b1bf152
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-renderer3-update-axes-geom-bar.R
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+library(testthat)
+library(XML)
+
+acontext("update_axes with geom_bar")
+# issue was raised in https://github.com/animint/animint2/issues/48
+
+bar.data <- data.frame(
+  x = c(2, 4, 6, 8,
+        22, 24, 26, 28,
+        42, 44, 46, 48),
+  y = c(10, 14, 12, 16,
+        11, 15, 13, 17,
+         9, 13, 11, 15),
+  set = c(rep("few", 4), rep("medium", 4), rep("many", 4))
+)
+
+no_axes <- ggplot() +
+  geom_bar(aes(x, y, fill = set),
+           showSelected = "set",
+           clickSelects = "set",
+           data = bar.data,
+           stat = "identity")
+x_axes <- no_axes +
+  theme_animint(update_axes = "x")
+y_axes <- no_axes +
+  theme_animint(update_axes = "y")
+both_axes <- no_axes +
+  theme_animint(update_axes = c("x", "y"))
+
+viz <- list(
+  neither=no_axes, 
+  x = x_axes,
+  y = y_axes, 
+  both = both_axes,
+  selector.types = list(set = "single")
+)
+
+expect_warning(
+  info <- animint2HTML(viz),
+  "so created a plot with no updates for X axis"
+)
+
+test_that("geom_bar plots render x and y axes", {
+  x_axis_nodes <- getNodeSet(info$html, "//svg[@id='plot_y']//g[contains(@class, 'xaxis')]")
+  y_axis_nodes <- getNodeSet(info$html, "//svg[@id='plot_y']//g[contains(@class, 'yaxis')]")
+
+  expect_gt(length(x_axis_nodes), 0)
+  expect_gt(length(y_axis_nodes), 0)
+})
+
+rect_path <- "//svg[@id='plot_y']//g[contains(@class, '%saxis')]"
+
+x_before <- getNodeSet(info$html, sprintf(rect_path, "x"))[[1]]
+y_before <- getNodeSet(info$html, sprintf(rect_path, "y"))[[1]]
+
+original_tick_diff_x <- getTickDiff(x_before, axis = "x")
+original_tick_diff_y <- getTickDiff(y_before, axis = "y")
+
+clickID("plot_y_set_variable_medium")
+Sys.sleep(0.5)
+html_updated <- getHTML()
+
+x_after <- getNodeSet(html_updated, sprintf(rect_path, "x"))[[1]]
+y_after <- getNodeSet(html_updated, sprintf(rect_path, "y"))[[1]]
+
+updated_tick_diff_x <- getTickDiff(x_after, axis = "x")
+updated_tick_diff_y <- getTickDiff(y_after, axis = "y")
+
+# y-axis does not change after selection, even when update_axes = "y"
+# this will be reversed after fixing issue #48
+test_that("geom_bar y-axis does not update after selection change", {
+  expect_equal(updated_tick_diff_y, original_tick_diff_y)
+  # expect_true(unequal(updated_tick_diff_y, original_tick_diff_y))
+})
+
+test_that("geom_bar x-axis stays unchanged for update_axes='y'", {
+  expect_equal(updated_tick_diff_x, original_tick_diff_x)
+})
\ No newline at end of file