diff --git a/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/ServletContextHandler.java b/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/ServletContextHandler.java
index 3d31408048e..314125d8e89 100644
--- a/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/ServletContextHandler.java
+++ b/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/ServletContextHandler.java
@@ -97,14 +97,14 @@ public class ServletContextHandler extends ContextHandler
     public final static int NO_SESSIONS=0;
     public final static int NO_SECURITY=0;
 
-    public static ServletContextHandler getServletContextHandler(ServletContext servletContext, String purpose) throws ServletException
+    public static ServletContextHandler getServletContextHandler(ServletContext servletContext, String purpose)
     {
         ContextHandler contextHandler = ContextHandler.getContextHandler(servletContext);
         if (contextHandler == null)
-            throw new ServletException("Not running on Jetty, " + purpose+ " unavailable");
+            throw new IllegalStateException("No Jetty ContextHandler, " + purpose+ " unavailable");
 
         if (!(contextHandler instanceof ServletContextHandler))
-            throw new ServletException("Not running in Jetty ServletContextHandler, " + purpose + " unavailable");
+            throw new IllegalStateException("No Jetty ServletContextHandler, " + purpose + " unavailable");
 
         return (ServletContextHandler)contextHandler;
     }
diff --git a/jetty-websocket/websocket-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/websocket/servlet/WebSocketServlet.java b/jetty-websocket/websocket-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/websocket/servlet/WebSocketServlet.java
index 46f4a510f15..394688689f3 100644
--- a/jetty-websocket/websocket-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/websocket/servlet/WebSocketServlet.java
+++ b/jetty-websocket/websocket-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/websocket/servlet/WebSocketServlet.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 
 import org.eclipse.jetty.http.pathmap.PathSpec;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletContextHandler;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.util.log.Log;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.util.log.Logger;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.websocket.core.FrameHandler;
@@ -153,10 +154,9 @@ public abstract class WebSocketServlet extends HttpServlet
     protected void service(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
         throws ServletException, IOException
     {
-        // Typically this servlet is used together with the WebSocketUpgradeFilter,
+        // Often this servlet is used together with the WebSocketUpgradeFilter,
         // so upgrade requests will normally be upgraded by the filter.  But we
         // can do it here as well if for some reason the filter did not match.
-
         if (mapping.upgrade(req, resp, null))
             return;
 
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ public abstract class WebSocketServlet extends HttpServlet
         {
             // TODO a bit fragile. This code knows that only the JettyFHF is added directly as a been
             ServletContext servletContext = getServletContext();
-            ContextHandler contextHandler = ContextHandler.getContextHandler(servletContext);
+            ContextHandler contextHandler = ServletContextHandler.getServletContextHandler(servletContext, "WebSocketServlet");
             FrameHandlerFactory frameHandlerFactory = contextHandler.getBean(FrameHandlerFactory.class);
 
             if (frameHandlerFactory==null)