diff --git a/reactos/ntoskrnl/config/i386/cmhardwr.c b/reactos/ntoskrnl/config/i386/cmhardwr.c
index 7ee7852dd3e..cb8d7e8938d 100644
--- a/reactos/ntoskrnl/config/i386/cmhardwr.c
+++ b/reactos/ntoskrnl/config/i386/cmhardwr.c
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ CmpInitializeMachineDependentConfiguration(IN PLOADER_PARAMETER_BLOCK LoaderBloc
                 }
 
                 /* Check if we had a Vendor ID */
-                if (Prcb->VendorString)
+                if (Prcb->VendorString[0])
                 {
                     /* Convert it to Unicode */
                     RtlInitAnsiString(&TempString, Prcb->VendorString);