diff --git a/src/llama-memory-recurrent.cpp b/src/llama-memory-recurrent.cpp
index 57919accf09..0110491a045 100644
--- a/src/llama-memory-recurrent.cpp
+++ b/src/llama-memory-recurrent.cpp
@@ -822,7 +822,8 @@ void llama_memory_recurrent::state_write(llama_io_write_i & io, llama_seq_id seq
     }
 
     if ((flags & LLAMA_STATE_SEQ_FLAGS_ON_DEVICE) && cell_ranges.size() > 1) {
-        GGML_ABORT("cannot save/load multiple ranges of cells to/from device memory\n");
+        // throw instead of aborting: state_seq_get_size/get_data catch this and return 0
+        throw std::runtime_error("cannot save/load multiple ranges of cells to/from device memory");
     }
 
     // DEBUG CHECK: Sum of cell counts in ranges should equal the total cell count