diff --git a/arch/arm/Kconfig b/arch/arm/Kconfig
index cf006d40342ca4d51a0128ca0ae60dc36452cd6f..cb253ce218a0cd42569148f19208c393e29cab6d 100644
--- a/arch/arm/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/arm/Kconfig
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ config ARM
 	select CPU_PM if (SUSPEND || CPU_IDLE)
 	select GENERIC_PCI_IOMAP
 	select HAVE_BPF_JIT if NET
+	select GENERIC_SMP_IDLE_THREAD
 	help
 	  The ARM series is a line of low-power-consumption RISC chip designs
 	  licensed by ARM Ltd and targeted at embedded applications and
diff --git a/arch/arm/include/asm/cpu.h b/arch/arm/include/asm/cpu.h
index 793968173bef58656b9c470acbac631ecaebd0dc..d797223b39d5b4cf5889dc0465d1b235bd223fb1 100644
--- a/arch/arm/include/asm/cpu.h
+++ b/arch/arm/include/asm/cpu.h
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 struct cpuinfo_arm {
 	struct cpu	cpu;
 #ifdef CONFIG_SMP
-	struct task_struct *idle;
 	unsigned int	loops_per_jiffy;
 #endif
 };
diff --git a/arch/arm/kernel/smp.c b/arch/arm/kernel/smp.c
index f0e2cbbd837d779e5aa336f83648fb3171ef2803..5e86f7c4782475ebd8b77d2c148c9e40d85370f8 100644
--- a/arch/arm/kernel/smp.c
+++ b/arch/arm/kernel/smp.c
@@ -60,31 +60,10 @@ enum ipi_msg_type {
 
 static DECLARE_COMPLETION(cpu_running);
 
-int __cpuinit __cpu_up(unsigned int cpu, struct task_struct *tidle)
+int __cpuinit __cpu_up(unsigned int cpu, struct task_struct *idle)
 {
-	struct cpuinfo_arm *ci = &per_cpu(cpu_data, cpu);
-	struct task_struct *idle = ci->idle;
 	int ret;
 
-	/*
-	 * Spawn a new process manually, if not already done.
-	 * Grab a pointer to its task struct so we can mess with it
-	 */
-	if (!idle) {
-		idle = fork_idle(cpu);
-		if (IS_ERR(idle)) {
-			printk(KERN_ERR "CPU%u: fork() failed\n", cpu);
-			return PTR_ERR(idle);
-		}
-		ci->idle = idle;
-	} else {
-		/*
-		 * Since this idle thread is being re-used, call
-		 * init_idle() to reinitialize the thread structure.
-		 */
-		init_idle(idle, cpu);
-	}
-
 	/*
 	 * We need to tell the secondary core where to find
 	 * its stack and the page tables.
@@ -318,9 +297,6 @@ void __init smp_cpus_done(unsigned int max_cpus)
 
 void __init smp_prepare_boot_cpu(void)
 {
-	unsigned int cpu = smp_processor_id();
-
-	per_cpu(cpu_data, cpu).idle = current;
 }
 
 void __init smp_prepare_cpus(unsigned int max_cpus)