diff --git a/hw/serial.c b/hw/serial.c
index a5b2a0c609..f0ce9b0c15 100644
--- a/hw/serial.c
+++ b/hw/serial.c
@@ -266,8 +266,6 @@ static void serial_xmit(void *opaque)
             s->tsr = fifo_get(s,XMIT_FIFO);
             if (!s->xmit_fifo.count)
                 s->lsr |= UART_LSR_THRE;
-        } else if ((s->lsr & UART_LSR_THRE)) {
-            return;
         } else {
             s->tsr = s->thr;
             s->lsr |= UART_LSR_THRE;
@@ -279,7 +277,7 @@ static void serial_xmit(void *opaque)
         /* in loopback mode, say that we just received a char */
         serial_receive1(s, &s->tsr, 1);
     } else if (qemu_chr_fe_write(s->chr, &s->tsr, 1) != 1) {
-        if ((s->tsr_retry >= 0) && (s->tsr_retry <= MAX_XMIT_RETRY)) {
+        if ((s->tsr_retry > 0) && (s->tsr_retry <= MAX_XMIT_RETRY)) {
             s->tsr_retry++;
             qemu_mod_timer(s->transmit_timer,  new_xmit_ts + s->char_transmit_time);
             return;