diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/bug.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/bug.h
index 87fcc19488177e6e15b79e1a7e5487edabe4b408..7ee763d3bea95c03f66709347967e30503a0fb77 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/bug.h
+++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/bug.h
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ extern int do_page_fault(struct pt_regs *, unsigned long, unsigned long);
 extern void bad_page_fault(struct pt_regs *, unsigned long, int);
 extern void _exception(int, struct pt_regs *, int, unsigned long);
 extern void die(const char *, struct pt_regs *, long);
+extern bool die_will_crash(void);
 
 #endif /* !__ASSEMBLY__ */
 
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/fadump.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/fadump.h
index ce88bbe1d809ea038db3c9dacbacea30fcad4f0e..5a23010af600337b89887cab179cf2e9b1b385b0 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/fadump.h
+++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/fadump.h
@@ -209,11 +209,13 @@ extern int early_init_dt_scan_fw_dump(unsigned long node,
 extern int fadump_reserve_mem(void);
 extern int setup_fadump(void);
 extern int is_fadump_active(void);
+extern int should_fadump_crash(void);
 extern void crash_fadump(struct pt_regs *, const char *);
 extern void fadump_cleanup(void);
 
 #else	/* CONFIG_FA_DUMP */
 static inline int is_fadump_active(void) { return 0; }
+static inline int should_fadump_crash(void) { return 0; }
 static inline void crash_fadump(struct pt_regs *regs, const char *str) { }
 #endif
 #endif
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/fadump.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/fadump.c
index dd2c85f0bd8dfc4d22375ae4d9bfde94f03f15d3..e1431800bfb9f7ed85a87ef6a1886901917a706b 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/fadump.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/fadump.c
@@ -125,6 +125,13 @@ int is_fadump_boot_memory_area(u64 addr, ulong size)
 	return (addr + size) > RMA_START && addr <= fw_dump.boot_memory_size;
 }
 
+int should_fadump_crash(void)
+{
+	if (!fw_dump.dump_registered || !fw_dump.fadumphdr_addr)
+		return 0;
+	return 1;
+}
+
 int is_fadump_active(void)
 {
 	return fw_dump.dump_active;
@@ -518,7 +525,7 @@ void crash_fadump(struct pt_regs *regs, const char *str)
 	struct fadump_crash_info_header *fdh = NULL;
 	int old_cpu, this_cpu;
 
-	if (!fw_dump.dump_registered || !fw_dump.fadumphdr_addr)
+	if (!should_fadump_crash())
 		return;
 
 	/*
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/traps.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/traps.c
index 5e4db2fc2add2f9826ed4800a7a2591e45d10cec..6858d910b47e8c9199067da44a7e8719d0ef8730 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/traps.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/traps.c
@@ -114,6 +114,28 @@ static void pmac_backlight_unblank(void)
 static inline void pmac_backlight_unblank(void) { }
 #endif
 
+/*
+ * If oops/die is expected to crash the machine, return true here.
+ *
+ * This should not be expected to be 100% accurate, there may be
+ * notifiers registered or other unexpected conditions that may bring
+ * down the kernel. Or if the current process in the kernel is holding
+ * locks or has other critical state, the kernel may become effectively
+ * unusable anyway.
+ */
+bool die_will_crash(void)
+{
+	if (should_fadump_crash())
+		return true;
+	if (kexec_should_crash(current))
+		return true;
+	if (in_interrupt() || panic_on_oops ||
+			!current->pid || is_global_init(current))
+		return true;
+
+	return false;
+}
+
 static arch_spinlock_t die_lock = __ARCH_SPIN_LOCK_UNLOCKED;
 static int die_owner = -1;
 static unsigned int die_nest_count;
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/platforms/powernv/opal.c b/arch/powerpc/platforms/powernv/opal.c
index d246f919cba2ab56ace095405e822dac0b48d807..65c79ecf5a4d685c3c2d5035a18b196bb9664f63 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/platforms/powernv/opal.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/platforms/powernv/opal.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include <asm/firmware.h>
 #include <asm/mce.h>
 #include <asm/imc-pmu.h>
+#include <asm/bug.h>
 
 #include "powernv.h"
 
@@ -425,17 +426,36 @@ static int opal_recover_mce(struct pt_regs *regs,
 		/* Fatal machine check */
 		pr_err("Machine check interrupt is fatal\n");
 		recovered = 0;
-	} else if ((evt->severity == MCE_SEV_ERROR_SYNC) &&
-			(user_mode(regs) && !is_global_init(current))) {
+	}
+
+	if (!recovered && evt->severity == MCE_SEV_ERROR_SYNC) {
 		/*
-		 * For now, kill the task if we have received exception when
-		 * in userspace.
+		 * Try to kill processes if we get a synchronous machine check
+		 * (e.g., one caused by execution of this instruction). This
+		 * will devolve into a panic if we try to kill init or are in
+		 * an interrupt etc.
 		 *
 		 * TODO: Queue up this address for hwpoisioning later.
+		 * TODO: This is not quite right for d-side machine
+		 *       checks ->nip is not necessarily the important
+		 *       address.
 		 */
-		_exception(SIGBUS, regs, BUS_MCEERR_AR, regs->nip);
-		recovered = 1;
+		if ((user_mode(regs))) {
+			_exception(SIGBUS, regs, BUS_MCEERR_AR, regs->nip);
+			recovered = 1;
+		} else if (die_will_crash()) {
+			/*
+			 * die() would kill the kernel, so better to go via
+			 * the platform reboot code that will log the
+			 * machine check.
+			 */
+			recovered = 0;
+		} else {
+			die("Machine check", regs, SIGBUS);
+			recovered = 1;
+		}
 	}
+
 	return recovered;
 }