diff --git a/arch/sparc64/kernel/smp.c b/arch/sparc64/kernel/smp.c
index b84c49e3697c608c826c529739328ae633a860a8..c73b7a48b0369ae970edf7d103672621eacb2e21 100644
--- a/arch/sparc64/kernel/smp.c
+++ b/arch/sparc64/kernel/smp.c
@@ -353,6 +353,8 @@ static int __devinit smp_boot_one_cpu(unsigned int cpu)
 	int timeout, ret;
 
 	p = fork_idle(cpu);
+	if (IS_ERR(p))
+		return PTR_ERR(p);
 	callin_flag = 0;
 	cpu_new_thread = task_thread_info(p);