diff --git a/qapi-schema.json b/qapi-schema.json
index d8fa1c376a..6f6379151f 100644
--- a/qapi-schema.json
+++ b/qapi-schema.json
@@ -352,7 +352,6 @@
 #          by default is 'utf8'.
 #
 # Returns: Nothing on success
-#          If @device is not a valid char device, DeviceNotFound
 #
 # Since: 1.4
 ##
@@ -374,7 +373,6 @@
 #          memchardev, by default is 'utf8'.
 #
 # Returns: data read from the device
-#          If @device is not a valid memchr device, DeviceNotFound
 #
 # Since: 1.4
 ##
diff --git a/qemu-char.c b/qemu-char.c
index b593c50f20..2bdd1bb18a 100644
--- a/qemu-char.c
+++ b/qemu-char.c
@@ -2764,7 +2764,7 @@ void qmp_memchar_write(const char *device, const char *data,
 
     chr = qemu_chr_find(device);
     if (!chr) {
-        error_set(errp, QERR_DEVICE_NOT_FOUND, device);
+        error_setg(errp, "Device '%s' not found", device);
         return;
     }
 
@@ -2799,7 +2799,7 @@ char *qmp_memchar_read(const char *device, int64_t size,
 
     chr = qemu_chr_find(device);
     if (!chr) {
-        error_set(errp, QERR_DEVICE_NOT_FOUND, device);
+        error_setg(errp, "Device '%s' not found", device);
         return NULL;
     }