diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index a6447f9c3..e95cbef02 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -305,7 +305,8 @@ if(ENABLE_EMBEDDED_PCIIDS AND NOT EXISTS "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/fastfetch_pciids
                         RESULT_VARIABLE PYTHON_PCIIDS_RETCODE)
         if(NOT PYTHON_PCIIDS_RETCODE EQUAL 0)
             file(REMOVE "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/fastfetch_pciids.c.inc")
-            message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to generate 'fastfetch_pciids.c.inc'")
+            message(WARNING "Failed to generate 'fastfetch_pciids.c.inc'")
+            set(ENABLE_EMBEDDED_PCIIDS OFF)
         endif()
     else()
         message(WARNING "Python3 is not found, 'fastfetch_pciids.c.inc' will not be generated")
@@ -325,7 +326,8 @@ if(ENABLE_EMBEDDED_AMDGPUIDS AND NOT EXISTS "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/fastfetch_amd
                         RESULT_VARIABLE PYTHON_AMDGPUIDS_RETCODE)
         if(NOT PYTHON_AMDGPUIDS_RETCODE EQUAL 0)
             file(REMOVE "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/fastfetch_amdgpuids.c.inc")
-            message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to generate 'fastfetch_amdgpuids.c.inc'")
+            message(WARNING "Failed to generate 'fastfetch_amdgpuids.c.inc'")
+            set(ENABLE_EMBEDDED_AMDGPUIDS OFF)
         endif()
     else()
         message(WARNING "Python3 is not found, 'fastfetch_amdgpuids.c.inc' will not be generated")
diff --git a/scripts/gen-amdgpuids.py b/scripts/gen-amdgpuids.py
index 463b42690..36292c845 100755
--- a/scripts/gen-amdgpuids.py
+++ b/scripts/gen-amdgpuids.py
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ def main(amdgpu_ids_path: str):
     with open(amdgpu_ids_path, 'r') as f:
         full_text = f.read()
 
+    if full_text == '':
+        sys.exit('Error: pci.ids file is empty')
+
     products = []
     for line in full_text.split('\n'):
         if not line or line[0] == '#' or not ',\t' in line:
diff --git a/scripts/gen-pciids.py b/scripts/gen-pciids.py
index 4c1270b9d..cb8cdc03b 100755
--- a/scripts/gen-pciids.py
+++ b/scripts/gen-pciids.py
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ def main(keep_vendor_list: set, pci_ids_path: str):
     with open(pci_ids_path, 'r') as f:
         full_text = f.read()
 
+    if full_text == '':
+        sys.exit('Error: pci.ids file is empty')
+
     dev_list_text = full_text[:full_text.rfind('\n\n\n')]  # remove known classes
     for line in dev_list_text.split('\n'):
         if not line or line[0] == '#':