diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 7ae448d16e..a62a833d83 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -2116,6 +2116,7 @@ probe_target_compiler() {
     target_ranlib=
     target_strip=
   fi
+  test -n "$target_cc"
 }
 
 write_target_makefile() {
@@ -2255,10 +2256,9 @@ done
 
 # Mac OS X ships with a broken assembler
 roms=
-probe_target_compiler i386-softmmu
-if test -n "$target_cc" &&
-        test "$targetos" != "darwin" && test "$targetos" != "sunos" && \
-        test "$targetos" != "haiku" && test "$softmmu" = yes ; then
+if test "$targetos" != "darwin" && test "$targetos" != "sunos" && \
+        test "$targetos" != "haiku" && test "$softmmu" = yes && \
+        probe_target_compiler i386-softmmu; then
     roms="pc-bios/optionrom"
     config_mak=pc-bios/optionrom/config.mak
     echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $config_mak
@@ -2266,8 +2266,7 @@ if test -n "$target_cc" &&
     write_target_makefile >> $config_mak
 fi
 
-probe_target_compiler ppc-softmmu
-if test -n "$target_cc" && test "$softmmu" = yes; then
+if test "$softmmu" = yes && probe_target_compiler ppc-softmmu; then
     roms="$roms pc-bios/vof"
     config_mak=pc-bios/vof/config.mak
     echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $config_mak
@@ -2277,8 +2276,7 @@ fi
 
 # Only build s390-ccw bios if the compiler has -march=z900 or -march=z10
 # (which is the lowest architecture level that Clang supports)
-probe_target_compiler s390x-softmmu
-if test -n "$target_cc" && test "$softmmu" = yes; then
+if test "$softmmu" = yes && probe_target_compiler s390x-softmmu; then
   write_c_skeleton
   do_compiler "$target_cc" $target_cc_cflags -march=z900 -o $TMPO -c $TMPC
   has_z900=$?