diff --git a/hw/s390x/s390-virtio-ccw.c b/hw/s390x/s390-virtio-ccw.c
index b0edaa0872..a28e615c5a 100644
--- a/hw/s390x/s390-virtio-ccw.c
+++ b/hw/s390x/s390-virtio-ccw.c
@@ -121,11 +121,29 @@ static void subsystem_reset(void)
     }
 }
 
-static void s390_memory_init(MemoryRegion *ram)
+static void set_memory_limit(uint64_t new_limit)
+{
+    uint64_t hw_limit;
+    int ret;
+
+    ret = s390_set_memory_limit(new_limit, &hw_limit);
+    if (ret == -E2BIG) {
+        error_report("host supports a maximum of %" PRIu64 " GB",
+                     hw_limit / GiB);
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    } else if (ret) {
+        error_report("setting the guest size failed");
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+}
+
+static void s390_memory_init(MachineState *machine)
 {
     MemoryRegion *sysmem = get_system_memory();
+    MemoryRegion *ram = machine->ram;
+    uint64_t ram_size = memory_region_size(ram);
 
-    if (!QEMU_IS_ALIGNED(memory_region_size(ram), 1 * MiB)) {
+    if (!QEMU_IS_ALIGNED(ram_size, 1 * MiB)) {
         /*
          * SCLP cannot possibly expose smaller granularity right now and KVM
          * cannot handle smaller granularity. As we don't support NUMA, the
@@ -136,7 +154,9 @@ static void s390_memory_init(MemoryRegion *ram)
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
 
-    /* allocate RAM for core */
+    set_memory_limit(ram_size);
+
+    /* Map the initial memory. Must happen after setting the memory limit. */
     memory_region_add_subregion(sysmem, 0, ram);
 
     /*
@@ -211,7 +231,7 @@ static void ccw_init(MachineState *machine)
     qdev_realize_and_unref(DEVICE(ms->sclp), NULL, &error_fatal);
 
     /* init memory + setup max page size. Required for the CPU model */
-    s390_memory_init(machine->ram);
+    s390_memory_init(machine);
 
     /* init CPUs (incl. CPU model) early so s390_has_feature() works */
     s390_init_cpus(machine);
diff --git a/hw/s390x/sclp.c b/hw/s390x/sclp.c
index 8757626b5c..73e88ab4eb 100644
--- a/hw/s390x/sclp.c
+++ b/hw/s390x/sclp.c
@@ -376,10 +376,7 @@ void sclp_service_interrupt(uint32_t sccb)
 /* qemu object creation and initialization functions */
 static void sclp_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
 {
-    MachineState *machine = MACHINE(qdev_get_machine());
     SCLPDevice *sclp = SCLP(dev);
-    uint64_t hw_limit;
-    int ret;
 
     /*
      * qdev_device_add searches the sysbus for TYPE_SCLP_EVENTS_BUS. As long
@@ -389,14 +386,6 @@ static void sclp_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     if (!sysbus_realize(SYS_BUS_DEVICE(sclp->event_facility), errp)) {
         return;
     }
-
-    ret = s390_set_memory_limit(machine->maxram_size, &hw_limit);
-    if (ret == -E2BIG) {
-        error_setg(errp, "host supports a maximum of %" PRIu64 " GB",
-                   hw_limit / GiB);
-    } else if (ret) {
-        error_setg(errp, "setting the guest size failed");
-    }
 }
 
 static void sclp_memory_init(SCLPDevice *sclp)
diff --git a/target/s390x/kvm/pv.c b/target/s390x/kvm/pv.c
index dde836d21a..424cce75ca 100644
--- a/target/s390x/kvm/pv.c
+++ b/target/s390x/kvm/pv.c
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ bool s390_pv_vm_try_disable_async(S390CcwMachineState *ms)
      * If the feature is not present or if the VM is not larger than 2 GiB,
      * KVM_PV_ASYNC_CLEANUP_PREPARE fill fail; no point in attempting it.
      */
-    if ((MACHINE(ms)->maxram_size <= 2 * GiB) ||
+    if ((MACHINE(ms)->ram_size <= 2 * GiB) ||
         !kvm_check_extension(kvm_state, KVM_CAP_S390_PROTECTED_ASYNC_DISABLE)) {
         return false;
     }