diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f13cac52a..abfcf92e7 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -46,7 +46,16 @@ AC_ARG_PROGRAM
 case "$target_cpu" in
   i[[3456]]86)	target_cpu=i386 ;;
   sparc)	target_cpu=sparc64 ;;
-  mipsel)	target_cpu=mips ;;
+  mipsel)
+                target_cpu=mips;    
+		TARGET_CFLAGS="$TARGET_CFLAGS -DGRUB_CPU_MIPSEL=1"; 
+		CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -DGRUB_CPU_MIPSEL=1";
+		;;
+  mips)
+                target_cpu=mips;    
+		TARGET_CFLAGS="$TARGET_CFLAGS -DGRUB_CPU_MIPS=1"; 
+		CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -DGRUB_CPU_MIPS=1";
+		;;
 esac
 
 # Specify the platform (such as firmware).
diff --git a/include/grub/mips/types.h b/include/grub/mips/types.h
index aed597451..fe09afa3e 100644
--- a/include/grub/mips/types.h
+++ b/include/grub/mips/types.h
@@ -25,12 +25,14 @@
 /* The size of long.  */
 #define GRUB_TARGET_SIZEOF_LONG		4
 
-#ifdef __MIPSEL__
+#ifdef GRUB_CPU_MIPSEL
 /* mipsEL is little-endian.  */
 #undef GRUB_TARGET_WORDS_BIGENDIAN
-#else
+#elif defined (GRUB_CPU_MIPS)
 /* 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 */