diff --git a/import-layers/yocto-poky/meta/conf/machine/qemumips.conf b/import-layers/yocto-poky/meta/conf/machine/qemumips.conf
index 3182ea1..986315a 100644
--- a/import-layers/yocto-poky/meta/conf/machine/qemumips.conf
+++ b/import-layers/yocto-poky/meta/conf/machine/qemumips.conf
@@ -9,6 +9,6 @@
 KERNEL_IMAGETYPE = "vmlinux"
 KERNEL_ALT_IMAGETYPE = "vmlinux.bin"
 
-SERIAL_CONSOLES = "115200;ttyS0 115200;ttyS1"
+SERIAL_CONSOLES ?= "115200;ttyS0 115200;ttyS1"
 
 MACHINE_EXTRA_RRECOMMENDS = " kernel-modules"