diff --git a/src/khoj/configure.py b/src/khoj/configure.py
index 1454b164..df0760fb 100644
--- a/src/khoj/configure.py
+++ b/src/khoj/configure.py
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ def configure_server(
             initialize_content(regenerate, search_type, user)
 
     except Exception as e:
-        raise e
+        logger.error(f"Failed to load some search models: {e}", exc_info=True)
 
 
 def setup_default_agent(user: KhojUser):
diff --git a/src/khoj/database/adapters/__init__.py b/src/khoj/database/adapters/__init__.py
index 5db857ee..f102648b 100644
--- a/src/khoj/database/adapters/__init__.py
+++ b/src/khoj/database/adapters/__init__.py
@@ -476,10 +476,11 @@ def get_default_search_model() -> SearchModelConfig:
 
     if default_search_model:
         return default_search_model
+    elif SearchModelConfig.objects.count() > 0:
+        return SearchModelConfig.objects.first()
     else:
         SearchModelConfig.objects.create()
-
-    return SearchModelConfig.objects.first()
+        return SearchModelConfig.objects.filter(name="default").first()
 
 
 def get_user_default_search_model(user: KhojUser = None) -> SearchModelConfig:
diff --git a/src/khoj/processor/embeddings.py b/src/khoj/processor/embeddings.py
index a19d85fa..b224e7f5 100644
--- a/src/khoj/processor/embeddings.py
+++ b/src/khoj/processor/embeddings.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from tenacity import (
 )
 from torch import nn
 
-from khoj.utils.helpers import get_device, merge_dicts, timer
+from khoj.utils.helpers import fix_json_dict, get_device, merge_dicts, timer
 from khoj.utils.rawconfig import SearchResponse
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -31,9 +31,9 @@ class EmbeddingsModel:
     ):
         default_query_encode_kwargs = {"show_progress_bar": False, "normalize_embeddings": True}
         default_docs_encode_kwargs = {"show_progress_bar": True, "normalize_embeddings": True}
-        self.query_encode_kwargs = merge_dicts(query_encode_kwargs, default_query_encode_kwargs)
-        self.docs_encode_kwargs = merge_dicts(docs_encode_kwargs, default_docs_encode_kwargs)
-        self.model_kwargs = merge_dicts(model_kwargs, {"device": get_device()})
+        self.query_encode_kwargs = merge_dicts(fix_json_dict(query_encode_kwargs), default_query_encode_kwargs)
+        self.docs_encode_kwargs = merge_dicts(fix_json_dict(docs_encode_kwargs), default_docs_encode_kwargs)
+        self.model_kwargs = merge_dicts(fix_json_dict(model_kwargs), {"device": get_device()})
         self.model_name = model_name
         self.inference_endpoint = embeddings_inference_endpoint
         self.api_key = embeddings_inference_endpoint_api_key
diff --git a/src/khoj/utils/helpers.py b/src/khoj/utils/helpers.py
index 664bbde9..6bfb3594 100644
--- a/src/khoj/utils/helpers.py
+++ b/src/khoj/utils/helpers.py
@@ -101,6 +101,15 @@ def merge_dicts(priority_dict: dict, default_dict: dict):
     return merged_dict
 
 
+def fix_json_dict(json_dict: dict) -> dict:
+    for k, v in json_dict.items():
+        if v == "True" or v == "False":
+            json_dict[k] = v == "True"
+        if isinstance(v, dict):
+            json_dict[k] = fix_json_dict(v)
+    return json_dict
+
+
 def get_file_type(file_type: str, file_content: bytes) -> tuple[str, str]:
     "Get file type from file mime type"