diff --git a/accel/accel-softmmu.c b/accel/accel-softmmu.c
index 67276e4..f9cdafb 100644
--- a/accel/accel-softmmu.c
+++ b/accel/accel-softmmu.c
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@
 {
     const char *ac_name;
     char *ops_name;
+    ObjectClass *oc;
     AccelOpsClass *ops;
 
     ac_name = object_class_get_name(OBJECT_CLASS(ac));
@@ -73,8 +74,13 @@
 
     ops_name = g_strdup_printf("%s" ACCEL_OPS_SUFFIX, ac_name);
     ops = ACCEL_OPS_CLASS(module_object_class_by_name(ops_name));
+    oc = module_object_class_by_name(ops_name);
+    if (!oc) {
+        error_report("fatal: could not load module for type '%s'", ops_name);
+        exit(1);
+    }
     g_free(ops_name);
-
+    ops = ACCEL_OPS_CLASS(oc);
     /*
      * all accelerators need to define ops, providing at least a mandatory
      * non-NULL create_vcpu_thread operation.