diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 29f218987a4d4596c26cbf4ae1351833a02b2d85..98918ac49d25bdf2a66b07552573e83251259b77 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -3876,14 +3876,15 @@ static void tcg_cpu_exec(void)
     for (; next_cpu != NULL; next_cpu = next_cpu->next_cpu) {
         CPUState *env = cur_cpu = next_cpu;
 
-        if (!vm_running)
-            break;
         if (timer_alarm_pending) {
             timer_alarm_pending = 0;
             break;
         }
         if (cpu_can_run(env))
             ret = qemu_cpu_exec(env);
+        else if (env->stop)
+            break;
+
         if (ret == EXCP_DEBUG) {
             gdb_set_stop_cpu(env);
             debug_requested = 1;