diff --git a/components/bt/host/nimble/esp-hci/src/esp_nimble_hci.c b/components/bt/host/nimble/esp-hci/src/esp_nimble_hci.c
index de0af66c5b8..c3c3549b36c 100644
--- a/components/bt/host/nimble/esp-hci/src/esp_nimble_hci.c
+++ b/components/bt/host/nimble/esp-hci/src/esp_nimble_hci.c
@@ -306,7 +306,8 @@ static int host_rcv_pkt(uint8_t *data, uint16_t len)
         }
 
         if (data[1] == BLE_HCI_EVCODE_HW_ERROR) {
-            assert(0);
+            esp_rom_printf("HCI HW error from controller, hw_code=%d\n",
+                           (totlen > BLE_HCI_EVENT_HDR_LEN) ? data[3] : 0);
         }
 
         /* Allocate LE Advertising Report Event from lo pool only */