diff --git a/arch/mips/fw/lib/cmdline.c b/arch/mips/fw/lib/cmdline.c
index f24cbb4a39b5..892765b742bb 100644
--- a/arch/mips/fw/lib/cmdline.c
+++ b/arch/mips/fw/lib/cmdline.c
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ char *fw_getenv(char *envname)
 {
 	char *result = NULL;
 
-	if (_fw_envp != NULL) {
+	if (_fw_envp != NULL && fw_envp(0) != NULL) {
 		/*
 		 * Return a pointer to the given environment variable.
 		 * YAMON uses "name", "value" pairs, while U-Boot uses