diff --git a/kernel/watchdog.c b/kernel/watchdog.c
index 26002ed4c16ea718d990ff02fc63d62f7269543c..fd2b6dc14486a8e3671ae0cc8bd89b5e82ba636a 100644
--- a/kernel/watchdog.c
+++ b/kernel/watchdog.c
@@ -502,6 +502,21 @@ static void watchdog(unsigned int cpu)
 	__this_cpu_write(soft_lockup_hrtimer_cnt,
 			 __this_cpu_read(hrtimer_interrupts));
 	__touch_watchdog();
+
+	/*
+	 * watchdog_nmi_enable() clears the NMI_WATCHDOG_ENABLED bit in the
+	 * failure path. Check for failures that can occur asynchronously -
+	 * for example, when CPUs are on-lined - and shut down the hardware
+	 * perf event on each CPU accordingly.
+	 *
+	 * The only non-obvious place this bit can be cleared is through
+	 * watchdog_nmi_enable(), so a pr_info() is placed there.  Placing a
+	 * pr_info here would be too noisy as it would result in a message
+	 * every few seconds if the hardlockup was disabled but the softlockup
+	 * enabled.
+	 */
+	if (!(watchdog_enabled & NMI_WATCHDOG_ENABLED))
+		watchdog_nmi_disable(cpu);
 }
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_HARDLOCKUP_DETECTOR
@@ -552,6 +567,18 @@ static int watchdog_nmi_enable(unsigned int cpu)
 		goto out_save;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * Disable the hard lockup detector if _any_ CPU fails to set up
+	 * set up the hardware perf event. The watchdog() function checks
+	 * the NMI_WATCHDOG_ENABLED bit periodically.
+	 *
+	 * The barriers are for syncing up watchdog_enabled across all the
+	 * cpus, as clear_bit() does not use barriers.
+	 */
+	smp_mb__before_atomic();
+	clear_bit(NMI_WATCHDOG_ENABLED_BIT, &watchdog_enabled);
+	smp_mb__after_atomic();
+
 	/* skip displaying the same error again */
 	if (cpu > 0 && (PTR_ERR(event) == cpu0_err))
 		return PTR_ERR(event);
@@ -565,6 +592,9 @@ static int watchdog_nmi_enable(unsigned int cpu)
 	else
 		pr_err("disabled (cpu%i): unable to create perf event: %ld\n",
 			cpu, PTR_ERR(event));
+
+	pr_info("Shutting down hard lockup detector on all cpus\n");
+
 	return PTR_ERR(event);
 
 	/* success path */