diff --git a/drivers/graphics/vesad/src/main.rs b/drivers/graphics/vesad/src/main.rs
index a4c07d1ee5..968abe594d 100644
--- a/drivers/graphics/vesad/src/main.rs
+++ b/drivers/graphics/vesad/src/main.rs
@@ -129,5 +129,8 @@ fn daemon(daemon: daemon::Daemon) -> ! {
         }
     }
 
-    panic!();
+    // Event sources exhausted — exit cleanly so init can decide whether
+    // to restart vesad or fall back to a different display driver.
+    eprintln!("vesad: event sources exhausted, exiting");
+    std::process::exit(0);
 }
diff --git a/drivers/storage/nvmed/src/main.rs b/drivers/storage/nvmed/src/main.rs
index 0e0de46ab6..c3c0df618b 100644
--- a/drivers/storage/nvmed/src/main.rs
+++ b/drivers/storage/nvmed/src/main.rs
@@ -92,18 +92,25 @@ fn daemon(daemon: daemon::Daemon, mut pcid_handle: PciFunctionHandle) -> ! {
         executor.register_external_event(time_handle.as_raw_fd() as usize, event::EventFlags::READ),
     );
 
-    // Try to init namespaces for 5 seconds
+    // Try to init namespaces for 5 seconds; exit cleanly with non-zero
+    // status on timeout so init can fall back to another block driver.
     time_arm(&mut time_handle, 5).expect("failed to arm timer");
-    let namespaces = executor.block_on(async {
+    let namespaces = match executor.block_on(async {
         let namespaces_future = nvme.init_with_queues();
         let time_future = time_events.as_mut().next();
         futures::pin_mut!(namespaces_future);
         futures::pin_mut!(time_future);
         match futures::future::select(namespaces_future, time_future).await {
             futures::future::Either::Left((namespaces, _)) => namespaces,
-            futures::future::Either::Right(_) => panic!("timeout on init"),
+            futures::future::Either::Right(_) => None,
         }
-    });
+    }) {
+        Some(ns) => ns,
+        None => {
+            log::error!("nvmed: NVMe initialization timed out after 5s — no namespace available");
+            std::process::exit(1);
+        }
+    };
     log::debug!("Initialized!");
 
     let scheme = Rc::new(RefCell::new(DiskScheme::new(
diff --git a/drivers/storage/nvmed/src/nvme/mod.rs b/drivers/storage/nvmed/src/nvme/mod.rs
index 2bd517e5ea..1f29a9c32d 100644
--- a/drivers/storage/nvmed/src/nvme/mod.rs
+++ b/drivers/storage/nvmed/src/nvme/mod.rs
@@ -369,13 +369,6 @@ impl Nvme {
             })
             .await;
 
-        /*match comp.status.specific {
-            1 => panic!("invalid queue identifier"),
-            2 => panic!("invalid queue size"),
-            8 => panic!("invalid interrupt vector"),
-            _ => (),
-        }*/
-
         queue
     }
     pub async fn create_io_submission_queue(&self, io_sq_id: SqId, io_cq_id: CqId) -> NvmeCmdQueue {
@@ -398,12 +391,6 @@ impl Nvme {
                 )
             })
             .await;
-        /*match comp.status.specific {
-            0 => panic!("completion queue invalid"),
-            1 => panic!("invalid queue identifier"),
-            2 => panic!("invalid queue size"),
-            _ => (),
-        }*/
 
         q
     }