diff --git a/drivers/serial/altera_uart.c b/drivers/serial/altera_uart.c
index 7dd58da0ddf5..1dfeffae5231 100644
--- a/drivers/serial/altera_uart.c
+++ b/drivers/serial/altera_uart.c
@@ -498,38 +498,54 @@ static int __devinit altera_uart_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
 {
 	struct altera_uart_platform_uart *platp = pdev->dev.platform_data;
 	struct uart_port *port;
-	int i;
+	struct resource *res_mem;
+	struct resource *res_irq;
+	int i = pdev->id;
 
-	for (i = 0; i < CONFIG_SERIAL_ALTERA_UART_MAXPORTS && platp[i].mapbase; i++) {
-		port = &altera_uart_ports[i].port;
+	/* -1 emphasizes that the platform must have one port, no .N suffix */
+	if (i == -1)
+		i = 0;
 
-		port->line = i;
-		port->type = PORT_ALTERA_UART;
-		port->mapbase = platp[i].mapbase;
-		port->membase = ioremap(port->mapbase, ALTERA_UART_SIZE);
-		port->iotype = SERIAL_IO_MEM;
-		port->irq = platp[i].irq;
-		port->uartclk = platp[i].uartclk;
-		port->ops = &altera_uart_ops;
-		port->flags = ASYNC_BOOT_AUTOCONF;
+	if (i >= CONFIG_SERIAL_ALTERA_UART_MAXPORTS)
+		return -EINVAL;
 
-		uart_add_one_port(&altera_uart_driver, port);
-	}
+	port = &altera_uart_ports[i].port;
+
+	res_mem = platform_get_resource(pdev, IORESOURCE_MEM, 0);
+	if (res_mem)
+		port->mapbase = res_mem->start;
+	else if (platp->mapbase)
+		port->mapbase = platp->mapbase;
+	else
+		return -EINVAL;
+
+	res_irq = platform_get_resource(pdev, IORESOURCE_IRQ, 0);
+	if (res_irq)
+		port->irq = res_irq->start;
+	else if (platp->irq)
+		port->irq = platp->irq;
+
+	port->membase = ioremap(port->mapbase, ALTERA_UART_SIZE);
+	if (!port->membase)
+		return -ENOMEM;
+
+	port->line = i;
+	port->type = PORT_ALTERA_UART;
+	port->iotype = SERIAL_IO_MEM;
+	port->uartclk = platp->uartclk;
+	port->ops = &altera_uart_ops;
+	port->flags = ASYNC_BOOT_AUTOCONF;
+
+	uart_add_one_port(&altera_uart_driver, port);
 
 	return 0;
 }
 
 static int __devexit altera_uart_remove(struct platform_device *pdev)
 {
-	struct uart_port *port;
-	int i;
-
-	for (i = 0; i < CONFIG_SERIAL_ALTERA_UART_MAXPORTS; i++) {
-		port = &altera_uart_ports[i].port;
-		if (port)
-			uart_remove_one_port(&altera_uart_driver, port);
-	}
+	struct uart_port *port = &altera_uart_ports[pdev->id].port;
 
+	uart_remove_one_port(&altera_uart_driver, port);
 	return 0;
 }