diff --git a/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c b/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
index 774499d34f..92af42503b 100644
--- a/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
+++ b/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
@@ -2575,7 +2575,7 @@ void kvm_irqchip_set_qemuirq_gsi(KVMState *s, qemu_irq irq, int gsi)
     g_hash_table_insert(s->gsimap, irq, GINT_TO_POINTER(gsi));
 }
 
-static void do_kvm_irqchip_create(KVMState *s)
+static int do_kvm_irqchip_create(KVMState *s)
 {
     int ret;
     if (kvm_check_extension(s, KVM_CAP_IRQCHIP)) {
@@ -2587,7 +2587,7 @@ static void do_kvm_irqchip_create(KVMState *s)
             exit(1);
         }
     } else {
-        return;
+        return -EOPNOTSUPP;
     }
 
     if (kvm_check_extension(s, KVM_CAP_IRQFD) <= 0) {
@@ -2610,13 +2610,17 @@ static void do_kvm_irqchip_create(KVMState *s)
         fprintf(stderr, "Create kernel irqchip failed: %s\n", strerror(-ret));
         exit(1);
     }
+
+    return 0;
 }
 
 static void kvm_irqchip_create(KVMState *s)
 {
     assert(s->kernel_irqchip_split != ON_OFF_AUTO_AUTO);
 
-    do_kvm_irqchip_create(s);
+    if (do_kvm_irqchip_create(s) < 0) {
+        return;
+    }
     kvm_kernel_irqchip = true;
     /* If we have an in-kernel IRQ chip then we must have asynchronous
      * interrupt delivery (though the reverse is not necessarily true)
@@ -2835,6 +2839,7 @@ static int kvm_reset_vmfd(MachineState *ms)
     }
 
     if (s->kernel_irqchip_allowed) {
+        /* ignore return from this function */
         do_kvm_irqchip_create(s);
     }