diff --git a/hw/sparc64/niagara.c b/hw/sparc64/niagara.c
index ab5ef8c5b3..148a26890e 100644
--- a/hw/sparc64/niagara.c
+++ b/hw/sparc64/niagara.c
@@ -152,10 +152,8 @@ static void niagara_init(MachineState *machine)
             exit(1);
         }
     }
-    if (serial_hd(0)) {
-        serial_mm_init(sysmem, NIAGARA_UART_BASE, 0, NULL, 115200,
-                       serial_hd(0), DEVICE_BIG_ENDIAN);
-    }
+    serial_mm_init(sysmem, NIAGARA_UART_BASE, 0, NULL,
+                   115200, serial_hd(0), DEVICE_BIG_ENDIAN);
     create_unimplemented_device("sun4v-iob", NIAGARA_IOBBASE, NIAGARA_IOBSIZE);
     sun4v_rtc_init(NIAGARA_RTC_BASE);
 }