diff --git a/include/hw/ide/internal.h b/include/hw/ide/internal.h
index fc0aa81a88..42c49414f4 100644
--- a/include/hw/ide/internal.h
+++ b/include/hw/ide/internal.h
@@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ int ide_init_drive(IDEState *s, BlockBackend *blk, IDEDriveKind kind,
                    int chs_trans, Error **errp);
 void ide_init2(IDEBus *bus, qemu_irq irq);
 void ide_exit(IDEState *s);
-int ide_init_ioport(IDEBus *bus, ISADevice *isa, int iobase, int iobase2);
+void ide_init_ioport(IDEBus *bus, ISADevice *isa, int iobase, int iobase2);
 void ide_register_restart_cb(IDEBus *bus);
 
 void ide_exec_cmd(IDEBus *bus, uint32_t val);
diff --git a/include/hw/isa/isa.h b/include/hw/isa/isa.h
index 6c8a8a92cb..8dd2953211 100644
--- a/include/hw/isa/isa.h
+++ b/include/hw/isa/isa.h
@@ -114,15 +114,12 @@ void isa_register_ioport(ISADevice *dev, MemoryRegion *io, uint16_t start);
  * @portio: the ports, sorted by offset.
  * @opaque: passed into the portio callbacks.
  * @name: passed into memory_region_init_io.
- *
- * Returns: 0 on success, negative error code otherwise (e.g. if the
- *          ISA bus is not available)
  */
-int isa_register_portio_list(ISADevice *dev,
-                             PortioList *piolist,
-                             uint16_t start,
-                             const MemoryRegionPortio *portio,
-                             void *opaque, const char *name);
+void isa_register_portio_list(ISADevice *dev,
+                              PortioList *piolist,
+                              uint16_t start,
+                              const MemoryRegionPortio *portio,
+                              void *opaque, const char *name);
 
 static inline ISABus *isa_bus_from_device(ISADevice *d)
 {
diff --git a/hw/ide/ioport.c b/hw/ide/ioport.c
index e6caa537fa..b613ff3bba 100644
--- a/hw/ide/ioport.c
+++ b/hw/ide/ioport.c
@@ -50,19 +50,15 @@ static const MemoryRegionPortio ide_portio2_list[] = {
     PORTIO_END_OF_LIST(),
 };
 
-int ide_init_ioport(IDEBus *bus, ISADevice *dev, int iobase, int iobase2)
+void ide_init_ioport(IDEBus *bus, ISADevice *dev, int iobase, int iobase2)
 {
-    int ret;
-
     /* ??? Assume only ISA and PCI configurations, and that the PCI-ISA
        bridge has been setup properly to always register with ISA.  */
-    ret = isa_register_portio_list(dev, &bus->portio_list,
-                                   iobase, ide_portio_list, bus, "ide");
+    isa_register_portio_list(dev, &bus->portio_list,
+                             iobase, ide_portio_list, bus, "ide");
 
-    if (ret == 0 && iobase2) {
-        ret = isa_register_portio_list(dev, &bus->portio2_list,
-                                       iobase2, ide_portio2_list, bus, "ide");
+    if (iobase2) {
+        isa_register_portio_list(dev, &bus->portio2_list,
+                                 iobase2, ide_portio2_list, bus, "ide");
     }
-
-    return ret;
 }
diff --git a/hw/ide/piix.c b/hw/ide/piix.c
index a6646d9657..5980045db0 100644
--- a/hw/ide/piix.c
+++ b/hw/ide/piix.c
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ static void piix_ide_reset(DeviceState *dev)
     pci_set_byte(pci_conf + 0x20, 0x01);  /* BMIBA: 20-23h */
 }
 
-static int pci_piix_init_ports(PCIIDEState *d, ISABus *isa_bus)
+static void pci_piix_init_ports(PCIIDEState *d, ISABus *isa_bus)
 {
     static const struct {
         int iobase;
@@ -136,23 +136,18 @@ static int pci_piix_init_ports(PCIIDEState *d, ISABus *isa_bus)
         {0x1f0, 0x3f6, 14},
         {0x170, 0x376, 15},
     };
-    int i, ret;
+    int i;
 
     for (i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
         ide_bus_init(&d->bus[i], sizeof(d->bus[i]), DEVICE(d), i, 2);
-        ret = ide_init_ioport(&d->bus[i], NULL, port_info[i].iobase,
-                              port_info[i].iobase2);
-        if (ret) {
-            return ret;
-        }
+        ide_init_ioport(&d->bus[i], NULL, port_info[i].iobase,
+                        port_info[i].iobase2);
         ide_init2(&d->bus[i], isa_bus->irqs[port_info[i].isairq]);
 
         bmdma_init(&d->bus[i], &d->bmdma[i], d);
         d->bmdma[i].bus = &d->bus[i];
         ide_register_restart_cb(&d->bus[i]);
     }
-
-    return 0;
 }
 
 static void pci_piix_ide_realize(PCIDevice *dev, Error **errp)
@@ -161,7 +156,6 @@ static void pci_piix_ide_realize(PCIDevice *dev, Error **errp)
     uint8_t *pci_conf = dev->config;
     ISABus *isa_bus;
     bool ambiguous;
-    int rc;
 
     pci_conf[PCI_CLASS_PROG] = 0x80; // legacy ATA mode
 
@@ -183,11 +177,7 @@ static void pci_piix_ide_realize(PCIDevice *dev, Error **errp)
         return;
     }
 
-    rc = pci_piix_init_ports(d, isa_bus);
-    if (rc) {
-        error_setg_errno(errp, -rc, "Failed to realize %s",
-                         object_get_typename(OBJECT(dev)));
-    }
+    pci_piix_init_ports(d, isa_bus);
 }
 
 static void pci_piix_ide_exitfn(PCIDevice *dev)
diff --git a/hw/isa/isa-bus.c b/hw/isa/isa-bus.c
index b3497dad61..d3e2d9de35 100644
--- a/hw/isa/isa-bus.c
+++ b/hw/isa/isa-bus.c
@@ -119,15 +119,11 @@ void isa_register_ioport(ISADevice *dev, MemoryRegion *io, uint16_t start)
     isa_init_ioport(dev, start);
 }
 
-int isa_register_portio_list(ISADevice *dev,
-                             PortioList *piolist, uint16_t start,
-                             const MemoryRegionPortio *pio_start,
-                             void *opaque, const char *name)
+void isa_register_portio_list(ISADevice *dev,
+                              PortioList *piolist, uint16_t start,
+                              const MemoryRegionPortio *pio_start,
+                              void *opaque, const char *name)
 {
-    if (!isabus) {
-        return -ENODEV;
-    }
-
     /* START is how we should treat DEV, regardless of the actual
        contents of the portio array.  This is how the old code
        actually handled e.g. the FDC device.  */
@@ -135,8 +131,6 @@ int isa_register_portio_list(ISADevice *dev,
 
     portio_list_init(piolist, OBJECT(dev), pio_start, opaque, name,
                      isabus->address_space_io, start);
-
-    return 0;
 }
 
 ISADevice *isa_new(const char *name)
