diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/platforms/cray_xc.py b/lib/spack/spack/platforms/cray_xc.py
index 24aa614e864..8bc03874de9 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/platforms/cray_xc.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/platforms/cray_xc.py
@@ -50,5 +50,7 @@ def detect(self):
             text = cc_verbose('-craype-verbose', output=str, error=str, ignore_errors=True).split()
             if '-D__CRAYXC' in text:
                 return True
-        finally:
+            else:
+                return False
+        except:
             return False