diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/uart.c b/arch/x86/kernel/uart.c
index 521685bed..1962b885d 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/uart.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/uart.c
@@ -154,9 +154,6 @@ static int uart_config(void)
 	/* disable interrupts */
 	write_to_uart(UART_IER, 0);
 
-	/* DTR + RTS */
-	write_to_uart(UART_MCR, UART_MCR_DTR|UART_MCR_RTS);
-
 	/*
 	 * 8bit word length
 	 * 1 stop bit
@@ -181,8 +178,6 @@ static int uart_config(void)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-extern const void kernel_start;
-
 int uart_init(void)
 {
 	if (is_uhyve())
diff --git a/arch/x86/loader/include/uart.h b/arch/x86/loader/include/uart.h
index 0567aafa5..52d041b9c 100644
--- a/arch/x86/loader/include/uart.h
+++ b/arch/x86/loader/include/uart.h
@@ -34,17 +34,11 @@
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
-/** @brief Initialize UART output
- *
- * @return Returns 0 on success
- */
-int uart_init(void);
-
 /** @brief Initialize UART output without a device check
  *
  * @return Returns 0 on success
  */
-int uart_early_init(char*);
+int uart_init(const char*);
 
 /** @brief Simple string output on a serial device.
  *
@@ -56,7 +50,7 @@ int uart_puts(const char *text);
 
 /** @brief Simple character output on a serial device.
  *
- * @return The original input character casted to int 
+ * @return The original input character casted to int
  */
 int uart_putchar(unsigned char c);
 
diff --git a/arch/x86/loader/main.c b/arch/x86/loader/main.c
index 59df480c6..dcb8ad899 100644
--- a/arch/x86/loader/main.c
+++ b/arch/x86/loader/main.c
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ void main(void)
 		cmdline_size = strlen(cmdline);
 	}
 
+	// enable paging
 	page_init();
 
 	if (mb_info) {
diff --git a/arch/x86/loader/stdio.c b/arch/x86/loader/stdio.c
index c4ee533fb..9c3e5f422 100644
--- a/arch/x86/loader/stdio.c
+++ b/arch/x86/loader/stdio.c
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 
 int koutput_init(void)
 {
-	uart_early_init((char*) mb_info->cmdline);
+	uart_init((const char*) (size_t)mb_info->cmdline);
 
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/arch/x86/loader/uart.c b/arch/x86/loader/uart.c
index c5a75921e..3130260ba 100644
--- a/arch/x86/loader/uart.c
+++ b/arch/x86/loader/uart.c
@@ -150,9 +150,6 @@ static int uart_config(void)
 	/* disable interrupts */
 	write_to_uart(UART_IER, 0);
 
-	/* DTR + RTS */
-	write_to_uart(UART_MCR, UART_MCR_DTR|UART_MCR_RTS);
-
 	/*
 	 * 8bit word length
 	 * 1 stop bit
@@ -177,65 +174,21 @@ static int uart_config(void)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-extern const void kernel_start;
-
-int uart_early_init(char* cmdline)
+int uart_init(const char* cmdline)
 {
-	char* str = NULL;
+	char* str;
 
-	if (!cmdline || ((str = strstr(cmdline, "uart=io:")) == NULL)) {
-		// default value of our QEMU configuration
+	if (!uartport && cmdline && ((str = strstr(cmdline, "uart=io:")) != NULL))
+		uartport = strtol(str+8, (char **)NULL, 16);
+
+	if (!uartport)
 		uartport = DEFAULT_UART_PORT;
-	} else {
-			uartport = strtol(str+8, (char **)NULL, 16);
-			if (!uartport)
-				uartport = DEFAULT_UART_PORT;
-	}
 
-	// configure uart
-	return uart_config();
-}
-
-int uart_init(void)
-{
-	if (uartport)
+	if (!uartport)
 		return 0;
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_PCI
-	pci_info_t pci_info;
-	uint32_t bar = 0;
-
-	// Searching for Intel's UART device
-	if (pci_get_device_info(0x8086, 0x0936, &pci_info) == 0)
-		goto Lsuccess;
- 	// Searching for Qemu's UART device
-	if (pci_get_device_info(0x1b36, 0x0002, &pci_info) == 0)
-		goto Lsuccess;
-	// Searching for Qemu's 2x UART device (pci-serial-2x)
-	if (pci_get_device_info(0x1b36, 0x0003, &pci_info) == 0)
-		goto Lsuccess;
-	// Searching for Qemu's 4x UART device (pci-serial-4x)
-	if (pci_get_device_info(0x1b36, 0x0004, &pci_info) == 0)
-		goto Lsuccess;
-
-	uartport = DEFAULT_UART_PORT;
-
-	return uart_config();
-
-Lsuccess:
-	uartport = pci_info.base[bar];
-	//irq_install_handler(32+pci_info.irq, uart_handler);
-	kprintf("UART uses io address 0x%x\n", uartport);
-
 	// configure uart
 	return uart_config();
-#else
-	// default value of our QEMU configuration
-	uartport = DEFAULT_UART_PORT;
-
-	// configure uart
-	return uart_config();
-#endif
 }
 
 #endif