diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index 430501521c..45761e5717 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+Wed Oct  2 12:02:02 1996  Ian Lance Taylor  <ian@cygnus.com>
+
+	* cofflink.c (_bfd_coff_link_input_bfd): Don't crash if there is
+	no hash table entry for a global symbol.
+
 Tue Oct  1 16:14:22 1996  Joel Sherrill  <joel@oarcorp.com>
 
 	* config.bfd (mips*-*-rtems*): New target, like mips*-*-elf*.
diff --git a/bfd/cofflink.c b/bfd/cofflink.c
index 9d6201340f..ea37865389 100644
--- a/bfd/cofflink.c
+++ b/bfd/cofflink.c
@@ -1514,7 +1514,13 @@ _bfd_coff_link_input_bfd (finfo, input_bfd)
 	      indx = ((esym - (bfd_byte *) obj_coff_external_syms (input_bfd))
 		      / isymesz);
 	      h = obj_coff_sym_hashes (input_bfd)[indx];
-	      BFD_ASSERT (h != NULL);
+	      if (h == NULL)
+		{
+		  /* This can happen if there were errors earlier in
+                     the link.  */
+		  bfd_set_error (bfd_error_bad_value);
+		  return false;
+		}
 	      h->indx = output_index;
 	    }