diff -r 15ec24a0cfad -r cb114f3238ef hotspot/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp
--- a/hotspot/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp	Fri Feb 28 14:56:04 2014 +0100
+++ b/hotspot/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp	Fri Feb 28 08:02:20 2014 -0800
@@ -2408,6 +2408,10 @@
   status &= verify_interval(NmethodSweepFraction, 1, ReservedCodeCacheSize/K, "NmethodSweepFraction");
   status &= verify_interval(NmethodSweepActivity, 0, 2000, "NmethodSweepActivity");
 
+  // TieredCompilation needs at least 2 compiler threads.
+  const int num_min_compiler_threads = (TieredCompilation) ? 2 : 1;
+  status &=verify_min_value(CICompilerCount, num_min_compiler_threads, "CICompilerCount");
+
   return status;
 }