diff --git a/libexec/rc/rc.d/hostid b/libexec/rc/rc.d/hostid
--- a/libexec/rc/rc.d/hostid
+++ b/libexec/rc/rc.d/hostid
@@ -106,6 +106,8 @@
 
 	if valid_hostid $uuid; then
 		echo "${uuid}"
+	elif [ "$uuid" ]; then
+		echo "INVALID"
 	fi
 }
 
@@ -113,9 +115,16 @@
 {
 	# First look for UUID in hardware.
 	uuid=`hostid_hardware`
-	if [ -z "${uuid}" ]; then
+
+	# Warn about invalid UUIDs
+	if [ "${uuid}" = "INVALID" ]; then
 		warn "hostid: unable to figure out a UUID from DMI data, generating a new one"
 		sleep 2
+		uuid=""
+	fi
+
+	# Generate a random UUID if invalid or not found
+	if [ -z "${uuid}" ]; then
 		# If not found, fall back to software-generated UUID.
 		uuid=`uuidgen`
 	fi