diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr.c b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
index 8d98e3b08a..c974c07fb8 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
@@ -2797,39 +2797,6 @@ static void spapr_machine_init(MachineState *machine)
     /* init CPUs */
     spapr_init_cpus(spapr);
 
-    /*
-     * check we don't have a memory-less/cpu-less NUMA node
-     * Firmware relies on the existing memory/cpu topology to provide the
-     * NUMA topology to the kernel.
-     * And the linux kernel needs to know the NUMA topology at start
-     * to be able to hotplug CPUs later.
-     */
-    if (machine->numa_state->num_nodes) {
-        for (i = 0; i < machine->numa_state->num_nodes; ++i) {
-            /* check for memory-less node */
-            if (machine->numa_state->nodes[i].node_mem == 0) {
-                CPUState *cs;
-                int found = 0;
-                /* check for cpu-less node */
-                CPU_FOREACH(cs) {
-                    PowerPCCPU *cpu = POWERPC_CPU(cs);
-                    if (cpu->node_id == i) {
-                        found = 1;
-                        break;
-                    }
-                }
-                /* memory-less and cpu-less node */
-                if (!found) {
-                    error_report(
-                       "Memory-less/cpu-less nodes are not supported (node %d)",
-                                 i);
-                    exit(1);
-                }
-            }
-        }
-
-    }
-
     spapr->gpu_numa_id = spapr_numa_initial_nvgpu_numa_id(machine);
 
     if ((!kvm_enabled() || kvmppc_has_cap_mmu_radix()) &&
diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr_hcall.c b/hw/ppc/spapr_hcall.c
index 7efbe93f4b..27ee713600 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr_hcall.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr_hcall.c
@@ -1202,9 +1202,15 @@ target_ulong do_client_architecture_support(PowerPCCPU *cpu,
      * If the guest chooses FORM2 we need to reset the associativity
      * information - it is being defaulted to FORM1 during
      * spapr_machine_reset().
+     *
+     * If we're sure that we'll be using FORM1, verify now if we have
+     * a configuration or condition that is not available for FORM1
+     * (namely asymmetric NUMA topologies and empty NUMA nodes).
      */
     if (spapr_ovec_test(spapr->ov5_cas, OV5_FORM2_AFFINITY)) {
         spapr_numa_associativity_reset(spapr);
+    } else {
+        spapr_numa_check_FORM1_constraints(MACHINE(spapr));
     }
 
     /*
diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c b/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c
index ca276e16cb..0c57d03184 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c
@@ -155,6 +155,49 @@ static void spapr_numa_define_associativity_domains(SpaprMachineState *spapr)
 
 }
 
+void spapr_numa_check_FORM1_constraints(MachineState *machine)
+{
+    int i;
+
+    if (!spapr_numa_is_symmetrical(machine)) {
+        error_report("Asymmetrical NUMA topologies aren't supported "
+                     "in the pSeries machine");
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * check we don't have a memory-less/cpu-less NUMA node
+     * Firmware relies on the existing memory/cpu topology to provide the
+     * NUMA topology to the kernel.
+     * And the linux kernel needs to know the NUMA topology at start
+     * to be able to hotplug CPUs later.
+     */
+    if (machine->numa_state->num_nodes) {
+        for (i = 0; i < machine->numa_state->num_nodes; ++i) {
+            /* check for memory-less node */
+            if (machine->numa_state->nodes[i].node_mem == 0) {
+                CPUState *cs;
+                int found = 0;
+                /* check for cpu-less node */
+                CPU_FOREACH(cs) {
+                    PowerPCCPU *cpu = POWERPC_CPU(cs);
+                    if (cpu->node_id == i) {
+                        found = 1;
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+                /* memory-less and cpu-less node */
+                if (!found) {
+                    error_report(
+                       "Memory-less/cpu-less nodes are not supported (node %d)",
+                                 i);
+                    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 /*
  * Set NUMA machine state data based on FORM1 affinity semantics.
  */
@@ -172,12 +215,6 @@ static void spapr_numa_FORM1_affinity_init(SpaprMachineState *spapr,
         return;
     }
 
-    if (!spapr_numa_is_symmetrical(machine)) {
-        error_report("Asymmetrical NUMA topologies aren't supported "
-                     "in the pSeries machine");
-        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-    }
-
     spapr_numa_define_associativity_domains(spapr);
 }
 
diff --git a/include/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.h b/include/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.h
index 0e457bba57..b5a19cb3f1 100644
--- a/include/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.h
+++ b/include/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.h
@@ -25,5 +25,6 @@ int spapr_numa_fixup_cpu_dt(SpaprMachineState *spapr, void *fdt,
 int spapr_numa_write_assoc_lookup_arrays(SpaprMachineState *spapr, void *fdt,
                                          int offset);
 unsigned int spapr_numa_initial_nvgpu_numa_id(MachineState *machine);
+void spapr_numa_check_FORM1_constraints(MachineState *machine);
 
 #endif /* HW_SPAPR_NUMA_H */
