diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm
index 742df1c09..259faadef 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm
@@ -2193,6 +2193,9 @@ sub parsefru {
     my $currsize; #store current size
     my $subidx;
     my @currarea;
+    unless (ref $bytes) {
+        return $bytes,undef;
+    }
     unless ($bytes->[0]==1) {
         if ($bytes->[0]==0 or $bytes->[0]==0xff) { #not in spec, but probably unitialized, xCAT probably will rewrite fresh
             return "clear",undef;