diff --git a/tools/pblimage.c b/tools/pblimage.c
index 16d94c98..ffc3268 100644
--- a/tools/pblimage.c
+++ b/tools/pblimage.c
@@ -194,17 +194,20 @@ void pbl_load_uboot(int ifd, struct image_tool_params *params)
 	pbl_parser(params->imagename);
 
 	/* parse the pbi.cfg file. */
-	pbl_parser(params->imagename2);
+	if (params->imagename2[0] != '\0')
+		pbl_parser(params->imagename2);
+
+	if (params->datafile) {
+		fp_uboot = fopen(params->datafile, "r");
+		if (fp_uboot == NULL) {
+			printf("Error: %s open failed\n", params->datafile);
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		}
 
-	fp_uboot = fopen(params->datafile, "r");
-	if (fp_uboot == NULL) {
-		printf("Error: %s open failed\n", params->datafile);
-		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		load_uboot(fp_uboot);
+		fclose(fp_uboot);
 	}
-
-	load_uboot(fp_uboot);
 	add_end_cmd();
-	fclose(fp_uboot);
 	lseek(ifd, 0, SEEK_SET);
 
 	size = pbl_size;
@@ -265,21 +268,24 @@ int pblimage_check_params(struct image_tool_params *params)
 	if (!params)
 		return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
-	fp_uboot = fopen(params->datafile, "r");
-	if (fp_uboot == NULL) {
-		printf("Error: %s open failed\n", params->datafile);
-		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-	}
-	fd = fileno(fp_uboot);
+	if (params->datafile) {
+		fp_uboot = fopen(params->datafile, "r");
+		if (fp_uboot == NULL) {
+			printf("Error: %s open failed\n", params->datafile);
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		}
+		fd = fileno(fp_uboot);
 
-	if (fstat(fd, &st) == -1) {
-		printf("Error: Could not determine u-boot image size. %s\n",
-		       strerror(errno));
-		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-	}
+		if (fstat(fd, &st) == -1) {
+			printf("Error: Could not determine u-boot image size. %s\n",
+			       strerror(errno));
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		}
 
-	/* For the variable size, we need to pad it to 64 byte boundary */
-	uboot_size = roundup(st.st_size, 64);
+		/* For the variable size, pad it to 64 byte boundary */
+		uboot_size = roundup(st.st_size, 64);
+		fclose(fp_uboot);
+	}
 
 	if (params->arch == IH_ARCH_ARM) {
 		arch_flag = IH_ARCH_ARM;