diff --git a/hw/nvme/ns.c b/hw/nvme/ns.c
index 547c0b1..050fdaf 100644
--- a/hw/nvme/ns.c
+++ b/hw/nvme/ns.c
@@ -438,9 +438,7 @@
 
     /* parse the placement handle identifiers */
     while ((token = qemu_strsep(&p, ";")) != NULL) {
-        ns->fdp.nphs += 1;
-        if (ns->fdp.nphs > NVME_FDP_MAXPIDS ||
-            ns->fdp.nphs == endgrp->fdp.nruh) {
+        if (ns->fdp.nphs++ == endgrp->fdp.nruh) {
             error_setg(errp, "too many placement handles");
             free(r);
             return false;
diff --git a/hw/nvme/subsys.c b/hw/nvme/subsys.c
index 24ddec8..d30bb8b 100644
--- a/hw/nvme/subsys.c
+++ b/hw/nvme/subsys.c
@@ -158,8 +158,10 @@
 
     endgrp->fdp.nrg = subsys->params.fdp.nrg;
 
-    if (!subsys->params.fdp.nruh) {
-        error_setg(errp, "fdp.nruh must be non-zero");
+    if (!subsys->params.fdp.nruh ||
+        subsys->params.fdp.nruh > NVME_FDP_MAXPIDS) {
+        error_setg(errp, "fdp.nruh must be non-zero and less than %u",
+                   NVME_FDP_MAXPIDS);
         return false;
     }