The paper considers the problem of model checking real-life VHDL- based hardware designs via their automated transformation to a model verifiable using the SMV model checker. In particular, model checking of asynchronous designs, i.e. designs driven by multiple clocks, is discussed. Two original ap- proaches to compiling asynchronous VHDL designs to the SMV language such that errors possibly arising from the asynchronicity are preserved are proposed. The paper also presents results of experiments with using the proposed methods for verification of several real-life asynchronous components of an FPGA-based router being developed within the Liberouter project.