diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 98750280e..f0aeb1aa8 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -100,12 +100,8 @@ case "$target_cpu" in
   i386 | powerpc) target_m32=1 ;;
   x86_64 | sparc64) target_m64=1 ;;
   mipsel) 
-    TARGET_CFLAGS="$TARGET_CFLAGS -DGRUB_CPU_MIPSEL=1"; 
-    CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -DGRUB_CPU_MIPSEL=1";
     target_cpu=mips ;;
   mips) 
-    TARGET_CFLAGS="$TARGET_CFLAGS -DGRUB_CPU_MIPS=1"; 
-    CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -DGRUB_CPU_MIPS=1";
     target_cpu=mips ;;
 esac
 
diff --git a/include/grub/mips/types.h b/include/grub/mips/types.h
index fe09afa3e..aed597451 100644
--- a/include/grub/mips/types.h
+++ b/include/grub/mips/types.h
@@ -25,14 +25,12 @@
 /* The size of long.  */
 #define GRUB_TARGET_SIZEOF_LONG		4
 
-#ifdef GRUB_CPU_MIPSEL
+#ifdef __MIPSEL__
 /* mipsEL is little-endian.  */
 #undef GRUB_TARGET_WORDS_BIGENDIAN
-#elif defined (GRUB_CPU_MIPS)
+#else
 /* mips is big-endian.  */
 #define GRUB_TARGET_WORDS_BIGENDIAN
-#elif !defined (GRUB_SYMBOL_GENERATOR)
-#error Neither GRUB_CPU_MIPS nor GRUB_CPU_MIPSEL is defined
 #endif
 
 #endif /* ! GRUB_TYPES_CPU_HEADER */