diff --git a/arch/avr32/boot/u-boot/head.S b/arch/avr32/boot/u-boot/head.S
index d36d865308df83cf76b2fcfe58bd95fec8799e95..2ffc298f061b3e7704e89dd634ece905ff13dcf4 100644
--- a/arch/avr32/boot/u-boot/head.S
+++ b/arch/avr32/boot/u-boot/head.S
@@ -73,8 +73,11 @@ init_sr:
 	.long	0x007f0000	/* Supervisor mode, everything masked */
 stack_addr:
 	.long	init_thread_union
+panic_addr:
+	.long	panic
 
 no_tag_table:
 	sub	r12, pc, (. - 2f)
-	bral	panic
+	/* branch to panic() which can be far away with that construct */
+	lddpc	pc, panic_addr
 2:	.asciz	"Boot loader didn't provide correct magic number\n"
diff --git a/arch/avr32/kernel/entry-avr32b.S b/arch/avr32/kernel/entry-avr32b.S
index 9899d3cc6f03b109f352faa9ac51387f96497cf7..7301f4806bbede59cf5eaa48649802ec75cddacf 100644
--- a/arch/avr32/kernel/entry-avr32b.S
+++ b/arch/avr32/kernel/entry-avr32b.S
@@ -401,9 +401,10 @@ handle_critical:
 	/* We should never get here... */
 bad_return:
 	sub	r12, pc, (. - 1f)
-	bral	panic
+	lddpc	pc, 2f
 	.align	2
 1:	.asciz	"Return from critical exception!"
+2:	.long	panic
 
 	.align	1
 do_bus_error_write: