diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm
index 55eb9955c..112f51390 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm
@@ -4696,7 +4696,7 @@ sub parseboard {
         my $macdata   = $boardinf{extra}->[6]->{value};
         my $macstring = "1";
         my $macprefix;
-        while ($macdata and $macstring !~ /00:00:00:00:00:00/ and not ref $global_sessdata->{currmacs}) {
+        while ($macdata and ref $macdata and $macstring !~ /00:00:00:00:00:00/ and not ref $global_sessdata->{currmacs}) {
             my @currmac = splice @$macdata, 0, 6;
             unless ((scalar @currmac) == 6) {
                 last;