diff --git a/common/ngram-cache.cpp b/common/ngram-cache.cpp
index a1309ee6e..1dcda9352 100644
--- a/common/ngram-cache.cpp
+++ b/common/ngram-cache.cpp
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ void llama_ngram_cache_save(llama_ngram_cache & ngram_cache, std::string & filen
 llama_ngram_cache llama_ngram_cache_load(std::string & filename) {
     std::ifstream hashmap_file(filename, std::ios::binary);
     if (!hashmap_file) {
-        throw std::system_error();
+        throw std::ifstream::failure("Unable to open file " + filename);
     }
     llama_ngram_cache ngram_cache;
 
diff --git a/examples/lookup/lookup-stats.cpp b/examples/lookup/lookup-stats.cpp
index ce6a5186a..d58eec18c 100644
--- a/examples/lookup/lookup-stats.cpp
+++ b/examples/lookup/lookup-stats.cpp
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv){
         if (!params.lookup_cache_static.empty()) {
             try {
                 ngram_cache_static = llama_ngram_cache_load(params.lookup_cache_static);
-            } catch (std::system_error const &) {
+            } catch (std::ifstream::failure const &) {
                 fprintf(stderr, "error: failed to open static lookup cache: %s", params.lookup_cache_static.c_str());
                 exit(1);
             }
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv){
         if (!params.lookup_cache_dynamic.empty()) {
             try {
                 ngram_cache_dynamic = llama_ngram_cache_load(params.lookup_cache_dynamic);
-            } catch (std::system_error const &) {} // if the file does not exist it will simply be created at the end of the program
+            } catch (std::ifstream::failure const &) {} // if the file does not exist it will simply be created at the end of the program
         }
 
         t_draft_flat_us += ggml_time_us() - t_start_draft_us;
diff --git a/examples/lookup/lookup.cpp b/examples/lookup/lookup.cpp
index 00319c428..2e8c35de3 100644
--- a/examples/lookup/lookup.cpp
+++ b/examples/lookup/lookup.cpp
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <string>
-#include <system_error>
 #include <vector>
 #include <unordered_map>
 
@@ -63,7 +62,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv){
         if (!params.lookup_cache_static.empty()) {
             try {
                 ngram_cache_static = llama_ngram_cache_load(params.lookup_cache_static);
-            } catch (std::system_error const &) {
+            } catch (std::ifstream::failure const &) {
                 fprintf(stderr, "error: failed to open static lookup cache: %s", params.lookup_cache_static.c_str());
                 exit(1);
             }
@@ -72,7 +71,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv){
         if (!params.lookup_cache_dynamic.empty()) {
             try {
                 ngram_cache_dynamic = llama_ngram_cache_load(params.lookup_cache_dynamic);
-            } catch (std::system_error const &) {} // if the file does not exist it will simply be created at the end of the program
+            } catch (std::ifstream::failure const &) {} // if the file does not exist it will simply be created at the end of the program
         }
 
         t_draft_flat_us += ggml_time_us() - t_start_draft_us;