diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index b230b7f042e6043794f941fce0a008460805e5bc..b32426595ad083d89ba77decf917e4202d8d69a0 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -718,7 +718,7 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(assembler,
 
 AC_MSG_CHECKING(if we should use assembler functions)
 # For now we only support assembler on i386 and sparc systems
-AM_CONDITIONAL(ASSEMBLER_x86, test "$ENABLE_ASSEMBLER" = "yes" -a "$BASE_MACHINE_TYPE" = "i386")
+AM_CONDITIONAL(ASSEMBLER_x86, test "$ENABLE_ASSEMBLER" = "yes" -a "$BASE_MACHINE_TYPE" = "i386" && $AS strings/strings-x86.s -o checkassembler >/dev/null 2>&1 && test -f checkassembler && (rm -f checkassembler; exit 0;))
 AM_CONDITIONAL(ASSEMBLER_sparc32, test "$ENABLE_ASSEMBLER" = "yes" -a "$BASE_MACHINE_TYPE" = "sparc")
 AM_CONDITIONAL(ASSEMBLER_sparc64, test "$ENABLE_ASSEMBLER" = "yes" -a "$BASE_MACHINE_TYPE" = "sparcv9")
 AM_CONDITIONAL(ASSEMBLER, test "$ASSEMBLER_x86_TRUE" = "" -o "$ASSEMBLER_sparc32_TRUE" = "")