diff --git a/notebooks/colab-phase1-eval.ipynb b/notebooks/colab-phase1-eval.ipynb
index dcba2ee..f94cfe4 100644
--- a/notebooks/colab-phase1-eval.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/colab-phase1-eval.ipynb
@@ -15,10 +15,19 @@
     "CATEGORIES = 'bugfix,feature'  # or 'refactor'\n",
     "import os, json, subprocess, sys, time, glob, shutil, urllib.request\n",
     "print('python', sys.version.split()[0], '| scope:', SCOPE, '| categories:', CATEGORIES)\n",
-    "print(subprocess.run(['nvidia-smi'], capture_output=True, text=True).stdout[:900])\n",
-    "gpu = subprocess.run(['nvidia-smi', '--query-gpu=memory.total,name', '--format=csv,noheader'], capture_output=True, text=True).stdout.strip().splitlines()\n",
+    "# nvidia-smi is absent on CPU-only runtimes (no NVIDIA driver). Guard so the\n",
+    "# cell reports the situation instead of crashing with FileNotFoundError.\n",
+    "def nvidia_smi(*args):\n",
+    "    try:\n",
+    "        return subprocess.run(['nvidia-smi', *args], capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=30).stdout\n",
+    "    except (FileNotFoundError, subprocess.TimeoutExpired):\n",
+    "        return ''\n",
+    "print((nvidia_smi() or 'nvidia-smi NOT FOUND (CPU-only runtime — no NVIDIA driver).').strip()[:900])\n",
+    "gpu = nvidia_smi('--query-gpu=memory.total,name', '--format=csv,noheader').strip().splitlines()\n",
     "vram = sum(int(line.split()[0].replace(',', '')) for line in gpu if line) if gpu else 0\n",
     "print('GPU count:', len(gpu), '| total VRAM MiB:', vram)\n",
+    "if not gpu:\n",
+    "    print('WARNING: no GPU detected — eval will run on CPU (slow). Set Runtime -> Change runtime type -> Hardware accelerator: T4 GPU')\n",
     "if SCOPE == 'full':\n",
     "    assert vram >= 20000, 'full scope needs >=20GB VRAM (L4/A100) — T4 15GB cannot hold 27B Q4; change runtime type'\n",
     "elif vram < 8000:\n",
@@ -218,9 +227,16 @@
   }
  ],
  "metadata": {
-  "kernelspec": {"display_name": "Python 3", "language": "python", "name": "python3"},
-  "language_info": {"name": "python", "version": "3.11"}
+  "kernelspec": {
+   "display_name": "Python 3",
+   "language": "python",
+   "name": "python3"
+  },
+  "language_info": {
+   "name": "python",
+   "version": "3.11"
+  }
  },
  "nbformat": 4,
  "nbformat_minor": 5
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/notebooks/phase1-pipeline-eval.ipynb b/notebooks/phase1-pipeline-eval.ipynb
index b2460a4..9900268 100644
--- a/notebooks/phase1-pipeline-eval.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/phase1-pipeline-eval.ipynb
@@ -9,7 +9,12 @@
     "import os, json, subprocess, sys, time, glob, shutil, urllib.request\n",
     "CATEGORIES = 'bugfix,feature'\n",
     "print('python', sys.version.split()[0], '| categories:', CATEGORIES)\n",
-    "print(subprocess.run(['nvidia-smi'], capture_output=True, text=True).stdout[:800])\n"
+    "def nvidia_smi(*args):\n",
+    "    try:\n",
+    "        return subprocess.run(['nvidia-smi', *args], capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=30).stdout\n",
+    "    except (FileNotFoundError, subprocess.TimeoutExpired):\n",
+    "        return ''\n",
+    "print((nvidia_smi() or 'nvidia-smi NOT FOUND (CPU-only runtime — no NVIDIA driver).').strip()[:800])\n"
    ]
   },
   {
@@ -74,7 +79,7 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "# CUDA layout on Kaggle (diag-verified): toolkit 12.8, driver lib ONLY in\n",
-    "# /usr/local/cuda-12.8/compat \u2014 symlink into toolkit lib64 for CMake.\n",
+    "# /usr/local/cuda-12.8/compat — symlink into toolkit lib64 for CMake.\n",
     "COMPAT = '/usr/local/cuda-12.8/compat'\n",
     "for lib in ['libcuda.so', 'libcuda.so.1']:\n",
     "    src = COMPAT + '/' + lib\n",
@@ -103,7 +108,7 @@
     "bin_path = '/kaggle/working/llama.cpp/build/bin/llama-server'\n",
     "assert os.path.exists(bin_path), 'llama-server build failed'\n",
     "# Trim build footprint but KEEP the shared libs: llama-server links\n",
-    "# libggml-cuda.so etc from build/bin \u2014 copying only the binary broke exec\n",
+    "# libggml-cuda.so etc from build/bin — copying only the binary broke exec\n",
     "# (rc=127, missing libs) on run 9. Copy the whole bin dir + ldd sanity.\n",
     "subprocess.run(['cp', '-r', '/kaggle/working/llama.cpp/build/bin', '/kaggle/working/llama-bin'], check=True)\n",
     "subprocess.run(['rm', '-rf', '/kaggle/working/llama.cpp'])\n",
@@ -141,7 +146,7 @@
     "    print((r.stdout or '')[-2500:])\n",
     "    print((r.stderr or '')[-1000:])\n",
     "except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:\n",
-    "    print('PIPELINE TIMEOUT after', round((time.time() - t0) / 60, 1), 'min \u2014 partial results kept')\n",
+    "    print('PIPELINE TIMEOUT after', round((time.time() - t0) / 60, 1), 'min — partial results kept')\n",
     "# Keep the kernel output small: the models/ dir (fallback downloads) would\n",
     "# bloat /kaggle/working into the output snapshot and break result fetches.\n",
     "shutil.rmtree('/kaggle/working/models', ignore_errors=True)\n",