diff --git a/mmengine/model/utils.py b/mmengine/model/utils.py
index e51ca76c..ce17b58c 100644
--- a/mmengine/model/utils.py
+++ b/mmengine/model/utils.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import torch
 import torch.nn as nn
 import torch.nn.functional as F
 
+from mmengine.logging import print_log
 from mmengine.utils.dl_utils import mmcv_full_available
 
 
@@ -192,7 +193,17 @@ def revert_sync_batchnorm(module: nn.Module) -> nn.Module:
         if hasattr(module, 'qconfig'):
             module_output.qconfig = module.qconfig
     for name, child in module.named_children():
-        module_output.add_module(name, revert_sync_batchnorm(child))
+        # Some custom modules or 3rd party implemented modules may raise an
+        # error when calling `add_module`. Therefore, try to catch the error
+        # and do not raise it. See https://github.com/open-mmlab/mmengine/issues/638 # noqa: E501
+        # for more details.
+        try:
+            module_output.add_module(name, revert_sync_batchnorm(child))
+        except Exception:
+            print_log(
+                F'Failed to convert {child} from SyncBN to BN!',
+                logger='current',
+                level=logging.WARNING)
     del module
     return module_output
 
diff --git a/tests/test_model/test_model_utils.py b/tests/test_model/test_model_utils.py
index df3044c0..0a8d0001 100644
--- a/tests/test_model/test_model_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_model/test_model_utils.py
@@ -15,6 +15,16 @@ from mmengine.registry import MODEL_WRAPPERS, Registry
 from mmengine.utils import is_installed
 
 
+class ToyModule(nn.Module):
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        super().__init__()
+        self.layer1 = nn.Linear(1, 1)
+
+    def add_module(self, name, module):
+        raise ValueError()
+
+
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
     torch.__version__ == 'parrots', reason='not supported in parrots now')
 def test_revert_syncbn():
@@ -28,6 +38,12 @@ def test_revert_syncbn():
     y = conv(x)
     assert y.shape == (1, 8, 9, 9)
 
+    # TODO, capsys provided by `pytest` cannot capture the error log produced
+    # by MMLogger. Test the error log after refactoring the unit test with
+    # `unittest`
+    conv = nn.Sequential(ToyModule(), nn.SyncBatchNorm(8))
+    revert_sync_batchnorm(conv)
+
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
     torch.__version__ == 'parrots', reason='not supported in parrots now')
@@ -41,10 +57,12 @@ def test_convert_syncbn():
     # Test convert to mmcv SyncBatchNorm
     if is_installed('mmcv'):
         # MMCV SyncBatchNorm is only supported on distributed training.
+        # torch 1.6 will throw an AssertionError, and higher version will
+        # throw an RuntimeError
         with pytest.raises((RuntimeError, AssertionError)):
             convert_sync_batchnorm(conv, implementation='mmcv')
 
-    # Test convert to Pytorch SyncBatchNorm
+    # Test convert BN to Pytorch SyncBatchNorm
     # Expect a ValueError prompting that SyncBN is not supported on CPU
     converted_conv = convert_sync_batchnorm(conv)
     assert isinstance(converted_conv[1], torch.nn.SyncBatchNorm)