diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr.c b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
index 0ca01767e53ec10109a16d7dc2dc1e98bd26dbb2..091cdb1e1fd2a2d955ebdc7b9962460fd5b424c4 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
@@ -122,10 +122,11 @@ static XICSState *xics_system_init(MachineState *machine,
             icp = try_create_xics(TYPE_KVM_XICS, nr_servers, nr_irqs, &err);
         }
         if (machine_kernel_irqchip_required(machine) && !icp) {
-            error_report("kernel_irqchip requested but unavailable: %s",
-                         error_get_pretty(err));
+            error_reportf_err(err,
+                              "kernel_irqchip requested but unavailable: ");
+        } else {
+            error_free(err);
         }
-        error_free(err);
     }
 
     if (!icp) {