diff --git a/tools/server/server-context.cpp b/tools/server/server-context.cpp
index 770e5636e..dbc6bcda4 100644
--- a/tools/server/server-context.cpp
+++ b/tools/server/server-context.cpp
@@ -1159,8 +1159,12 @@ private:
                 SRV_INF("%s", "server entering sleeping state (VRAM-only: releasing device weights, keeping KV cache)\n");
                 vram_go_cold();
             } else {
-                SRV_INF("%s", "server exiting sleeping state (VRAM-only: weights restored on next decode)\n");
-                // token is acquired and weights restored by vram_ensure_warm() before decode
+                SRV_INF("%s", "server exiting sleeping state (VRAM-only: restoring device weights/KV)\n");
+                // Restore NOW, on wake, before update_slots runs. update_slots touches the KV cache
+                // (e.g. SWA checkpoint creation reads it via ggml_backend_tensor_get) before the
+                // decode-time vram_ensure_warm(), so with KV eviction the KV must already be resident
+                // here or those reads hit a freed (null) buffer.
+                vram_ensure_warm();
             }
             sleeping = new_state;
             return;