diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/switch_to.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/switch_to.h
index 2824609319c..1a6320290d2 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/switch_to.h
+++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/switch_to.h
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ static inline void discard_lazy_cpu_state(void)
 #ifdef CONFIG_ALTIVEC
 extern void flush_altivec_to_thread(struct task_struct *);
 extern void giveup_altivec(struct task_struct *);
+extern void giveup_altivec_notask(void);
 #else
 static inline void flush_altivec_to_thread(struct task_struct *t)
 {
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c
index 4937c969009..bb58f41fc04 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ void enable_kernel_altivec(void)
 	if (current->thread.regs && (current->thread.regs->msr & MSR_VEC))
 		giveup_altivec(current);
 	else
-		giveup_altivec(NULL);	/* just enable AltiVec for kernel - force */
+		giveup_altivec_notask();
 #else
 	giveup_altivec(last_task_used_altivec);
 #endif /* CONFIG_SMP */
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/vector.S b/arch/powerpc/kernel/vector.S
index 4d5a3edff49..e830289d2e4 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/vector.S
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/vector.S
@@ -89,6 +89,16 @@ _GLOBAL(load_up_altivec)
 	/* restore registers and return */
 	blr
 
+_GLOBAL(giveup_altivec_notask)
+	mfmsr	r3
+	andis.	r4,r3,MSR_VEC@h
+	bnelr				/* Already enabled? */
+	oris	r3,r3,MSR_VEC@h
+	SYNC
+	MTMSRD(r3)			/* enable use of VMX now */
+	isync
+	blr
+
 /*
  * giveup_altivec(tsk)
  * Disable VMX for the task given as the argument,