diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 894c3f3230..2dd50a2145 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -3120,22 +3120,6 @@ qemuBuildControllerDevStr(const virDomainDef *domainDef,
         break;
 
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_IDE:
-        /* Since we currently only support the integrated IDE
-         * controller on various boards, if we ever get to here, it's
-         * because some other machinetype had an IDE controller
-         * specified, or one with a single IDE contraller had multiple
-         * ide controllers specified.
-         */
-        if (qemuDomainHasBuiltinIDE(domainDef))
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("Only a single IDE controller is supported "
-                             "for this machine type"));
-        else
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("IDE controllers are unsupported for "
-                             "this QEMU binary or machine type"));
-        goto error;
-
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_FDC:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_LAST:
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index d4bd3a24f5..38e74ef3fc 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -3892,17 +3892,48 @@ qemuDomainDeviceDefValidateDisk(const virDomainDiskDef *disk)
 }
 
 
+static int
+qemuDomainDeviceDefValidateControllerIDE(const virDomainControllerDef *controller,
+                                         const virDomainDef *def)
+{
+    /* first IDE controller is implicit on various machines */
+    if (controller->idx == 0 && qemuDomainHasBuiltinIDE(def))
+        return 0;
+
+    /* Since we currently only support the integrated IDE
+     * controller on various boards, if we ever get to here, it's
+     * because some other machinetype had an IDE controller
+     * specified, or one with a single IDE controller had multiple
+     * IDE controllers specified.
+     */
+    if (qemuDomainHasBuiltinIDE(def))
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                       _("Only a single IDE controller is supported "
+                         "for this machine type"));
+    else
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                       _("IDE controllers are unsupported for "
+                         "this QEMU binary or machine type"));
+    return -1;
+}
+
+
 static int
 qemuDomainDeviceDefValidateController(const virDomainControllerDef *controller,
                                       const virDomainDef *def,
                                       virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
 {
+    int ret = 0;
+
     if (!qemuDomainCheckCCWS390AddressSupport(def, controller->info, qemuCaps,
                                               "controller"))
         return -1;
 
     switch ((virDomainControllerType) controller->type) {
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_IDE:
+        ret = qemuDomainDeviceDefValidateControllerIDE(controller, def);
+        break;
+
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_FDC:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_SCSI:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_SATA:
@@ -3914,7 +3945,7 @@ qemuDomainDeviceDefValidateController(const virDomainControllerDef *controller,
         break;
     }
 
-    return 0;
+    return ret;
 }