diff --git a/hw/tpm/tpm_spapr.c b/hw/tpm/tpm_spapr.c
index cb4dfd1e6a..8288ab0a15 100644
--- a/hw/tpm/tpm_spapr.c
+++ b/hw/tpm/tpm_spapr.c
@@ -306,7 +306,10 @@ static void tpm_spapr_reset(SpaprVioDevice *dev)
                             TPM_SPAPR_BUFFER_MAX);
 
     tpm_backend_reset(s->be_driver);
-    tpm_spapr_do_startup_tpm(s, s->be_buffer_size);
+
+    if (tpm_spapr_do_startup_tpm(s, s->be_buffer_size) < 0) {
+        exit(1);
+    }
 }
 
 static enum TPMVersion tpm_spapr_get_version(TPMIf *ti)
diff --git a/tests/qtest/tpm-util.c b/tests/qtest/tpm-util.c
index 34efae8f18..58a9593745 100644
--- a/tests/qtest/tpm-util.c
+++ b/tests/qtest/tpm-util.c
@@ -139,7 +139,11 @@ void tpm_util_pcrread(QTestState *s, tx_func *tx,
 
     tx(s, tpm_pcrread, sizeof(tpm_pcrread), buffer, sizeof(buffer));
 
-    g_assert_cmpmem(buffer, exp_resp_size, exp_resp, exp_resp_size);
+    /* skip pcrUpdateCounter (14th byte) in comparison */
+    g_assert(exp_resp_size >= 15);
+    g_assert_cmpmem(buffer, 13, exp_resp, 13);
+    g_assert_cmpmem(&buffer[14], exp_resp_size - 14,
+                    &exp_resp[14], exp_resp_size - 14);
 }
 
 bool tpm_util_swtpm_has_tpm2(void)