diff --git a/lib/Target/SparcV9/SparcV9CodeEmitter.cpp b/lib/Target/SparcV9/SparcV9CodeEmitter.cpp
index 9af69c1cdba..01da2fdcf5c 100644
--- a/lib/Target/SparcV9/SparcV9CodeEmitter.cpp
+++ b/lib/Target/SparcV9/SparcV9CodeEmitter.cpp
@@ -594,11 +594,9 @@ int64_t SparcV9CodeEmitter::getMachineOpValue(MachineInstr &MI,
                                               MachineOperand &MO) {
   int64_t rv = 0; // Return value; defaults to 0 for unhandled cases
                   // or things that get fixed up later by the JIT.
-
-  if (MO.isVirtualRegister()) {
-    std::cerr << "ERROR: virtual register found in machine code.\n";
-    abort();
-  } else if (MO.isPCRelativeDisp()) {
+  assert(MO.getType() != MachineOperand::MO_VirtualRegister &&
+         "ERROR: virtual register found in machine code.");
+  if (MO.isPCRelativeDisp()) {
     DEBUG(std::cerr << "PCRelativeDisp: ");
     Value *V = MO.getVRegValue();
     if (BasicBlock *BB = dyn_cast<BasicBlock>(V)) {