diff --git a/platform/editor-ui-ex/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/colors/impl/AbstractColorsScheme.java b/platform/editor-ui-ex/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/colors/impl/AbstractColorsScheme.java
index 9ff7958e8712..7e2dc6ce5c81 100644
--- a/platform/editor-ui-ex/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/colors/impl/AbstractColorsScheme.java
+++ b/platform/editor-ui-ex/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/colors/impl/AbstractColorsScheme.java
@@ -1010,8 +1010,9 @@ public abstract class AbstractColorsScheme extends EditorFontCacheImpl implement
     if (myParentScheme instanceof TemporaryParent) {
       String parentName = ((TemporaryParent)myParentScheme).getParentName();
       EditorColorsScheme newParent = nameResolver.apply(parentName);
-      assert newParent != null : "Can not resolve '" + parentName + "' color scheme.";
-      assert newParent instanceof ReadOnlyColorsScheme : "Resolved parent color scheme must be read-only.";
+      if (newParent == null || !(newParent instanceof ReadOnlyColorsScheme)) {
+        throw new InvalidDataException(parentName);
+      }
       myParentScheme = newParent;
     }
   }
diff --git a/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/colors/impl/EditorColorsManagerImpl.java b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/colors/impl/EditorColorsManagerImpl.java
index bc0128f710e7..6acc513d1d13 100644
--- a/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/colors/impl/EditorColorsManagerImpl.java
+++ b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/colors/impl/EditorColorsManagerImpl.java
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ import com.intellij.configurationStore.SchemeDataHolder;
 import com.intellij.configurationStore.SchemeExtensionProvider;
 import com.intellij.ide.WelcomeWizardUtil;
 import com.intellij.ide.ui.LafManager;
+import com.intellij.notification.Notification;
+import com.intellij.notification.NotificationType;
+import com.intellij.notification.Notifications;
 import com.intellij.openapi.application.Application;
 import com.intellij.openapi.application.ApplicationManager;
 import com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.ApplicationImpl;
@@ -41,6 +44,7 @@ import com.intellij.openapi.options.SchemeManagerFactory;
 import com.intellij.openapi.options.SchemeState;
 import com.intellij.openapi.project.Project;
 import com.intellij.openapi.project.ProjectManager;
+import com.intellij.openapi.util.InvalidDataException;
 import com.intellij.openapi.util.text.StringUtil;
 import com.intellij.util.ComponentTreeEventDispatcher;
 import com.intellij.util.JdomKt;
@@ -52,10 +56,7 @@ import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
 
 import java.net.URL;
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Arrays;
-import java.util.Collection;
-import java.util.List;
+import java.util.*;
 import java.util.function.Function;
 
 @State(
@@ -190,7 +191,16 @@ public class EditorColorsManagerImpl extends EditorColorsManager implements Pers
   private void resolveLinksToBundledSchemes() {
     for (EditorColorsScheme scheme : mySchemeManager.getAllSchemes()) {
       if (scheme instanceof AbstractColorsScheme && !(scheme instanceof ReadOnlyColorsScheme)) {
-        ((AbstractColorsScheme)scheme).resolveParent(name -> mySchemeManager.findSchemeByName(name));
+        try {
+          ((AbstractColorsScheme)scheme).resolveParent(name -> mySchemeManager.findSchemeByName(name));
+        }
+        catch (InvalidDataException e) {
+          String message = "Color scheme '" + scheme.getName() + "'" +
+                           " points to incorrect or non-existent default (base) scheme " +
+                           e.getMessage();
+          Notifications.Bus.notify(
+            new Notification(Notifications.SYSTEM_MESSAGES_GROUP_ID, "Incompatible color scheme", message, NotificationType.ERROR));
+        }
       }
     }
   }