diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/rtas.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/rtas.h
index 01c12339b304..0af42d20b692 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/rtas.h
+++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/rtas.h
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ struct rtas_t {
 	unsigned long entry;		/* physical address pointer */
 	unsigned long base;		/* physical address pointer */
 	unsigned long size;
-	spinlock_t lock;
+	raw_spinlock_t lock;
 	struct rtas_args args;
 	struct device_node *dev;	/* virtual address pointer */
 };
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/rtas.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/rtas.c
index ee4c7609b649..d9a9974c6938 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/rtas.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/rtas.c
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 #include <asm/atomic.h>
 
 struct rtas_t rtas = {
-	.lock = SPIN_LOCK_UNLOCKED
+	.lock = __RAW_SPIN_LOCK_UNLOCKED
 };
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(rtas);
 
@@ -67,6 +67,28 @@ unsigned long rtas_rmo_buf;
 void (*rtas_flash_term_hook)(int);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(rtas_flash_term_hook);
 
+/* RTAS use home made raw locking instead of spin_lock_irqsave
+ * because those can be called from within really nasty contexts
+ * such as having the timebase stopped which would lockup with
+ * normal locks and spinlock debugging enabled
+ */
+static unsigned long lock_rtas(void)
+{
+	unsigned long flags;
+
+	local_irq_save(flags);
+	preempt_disable();
+	__raw_spin_lock_flags(&rtas.lock, flags);
+	return flags;
+}
+
+static void unlock_rtas(unsigned long flags)
+{
+	__raw_spin_unlock(&rtas.lock);
+	local_irq_restore(flags);
+	preempt_enable();
+}
+
 /*
  * call_rtas_display_status and call_rtas_display_status_delay
  * are designed only for very early low-level debugging, which
@@ -79,7 +101,7 @@ static void call_rtas_display_status(char c)
 
 	if (!rtas.base)
 		return;
-	spin_lock_irqsave(&rtas.lock, s);
+	s = lock_rtas();
 
 	args->token = 10;
 	args->nargs = 1;
@@ -89,7 +111,7 @@ static void call_rtas_display_status(char c)
 
 	enter_rtas(__pa(args));
 
-	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&rtas.lock, s);
+	unlock_rtas(s);
 }
 
 static void call_rtas_display_status_delay(char c)
@@ -411,8 +433,7 @@ int rtas_call(int token, int nargs, int nret, int *outputs, ...)
 	if (!rtas.entry || token == RTAS_UNKNOWN_SERVICE)
 		return -1;
 
-	/* Gotta do something different here, use global lock for now... */
-	spin_lock_irqsave(&rtas.lock, s);
+	s = lock_rtas();
 	rtas_args = &rtas.args;
 
 	rtas_args->token = token;
@@ -439,8 +460,7 @@ int rtas_call(int token, int nargs, int nret, int *outputs, ...)
 			outputs[i] = rtas_args->rets[i+1];
 	ret = (nret > 0)? rtas_args->rets[0]: 0;
 
-	/* Gotta do something different here, use global lock for now... */
-	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&rtas.lock, s);
+	unlock_rtas(s);
 
 	if (buff_copy) {
 		log_error(buff_copy, ERR_TYPE_RTAS_LOG, 0);
@@ -837,7 +857,7 @@ asmlinkage int ppc_rtas(struct rtas_args __user *uargs)
 
 	buff_copy = get_errorlog_buffer();
 
-	spin_lock_irqsave(&rtas.lock, flags);
+	flags = lock_rtas();
 
 	rtas.args = args;
 	enter_rtas(__pa(&rtas.args));
@@ -848,7 +868,7 @@ asmlinkage int ppc_rtas(struct rtas_args __user *uargs)
 	if (args.rets[0] == -1)
 		errbuf = __fetch_rtas_last_error(buff_copy);
 
-	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&rtas.lock, flags);
+	unlock_rtas(flags);
 
 	if (buff_copy) {
 		if (errbuf)