diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr.c b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
index 1170028578..5c81e19ac7 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
@@ -1774,8 +1774,8 @@ static void ppc_spapr_init(MachineState *machine)
         ram_addr_t hotplug_mem_size = machine->maxram_size - machine->ram_size;
 
         if (machine->ram_slots > SPAPR_MAX_RAM_SLOTS) {
-            error_report("unsupported amount of memory slots: %"PRIu64,
-                          machine->ram_slots);
+            error_report("Specified number of memory slots %"PRIu64" exceeds max supported %d\n",
+                         machine->ram_slots, SPAPR_MAX_RAM_SLOTS);
             exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
         }