diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/radeon/atombios_encoders.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/radeon/atombios_encoders.c
index 2b2908440644e8908accbeabc855d5c5066c7d47..7d68203a3737f39d49594dc25dbdda64365a45b7 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/radeon/atombios_encoders.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/radeon/atombios_encoders.c
@@ -183,7 +183,6 @@ void radeon_atom_backlight_init(struct radeon_encoder *radeon_encoder,
 	struct backlight_properties props;
 	struct radeon_backlight_privdata *pdata;
 	struct radeon_encoder_atom_dig *dig;
-	u8 backlight_level;
 	char bl_name[16];
 
 	/* Mac laptops with multiple GPUs use the gmux driver for backlight
@@ -222,12 +221,17 @@ void radeon_atom_backlight_init(struct radeon_encoder *radeon_encoder,
 
 	pdata->encoder = radeon_encoder;
 
-	backlight_level = radeon_atom_get_backlight_level_from_reg(rdev);
-
 	dig = radeon_encoder->enc_priv;
 	dig->bl_dev = bd;
 
 	bd->props.brightness = radeon_atom_backlight_get_brightness(bd);
+	/* Set a reasonable default here if the level is 0 otherwise
+	 * fbdev will attempt to turn the backlight on after console
+	 * unblanking and it will try and restore 0 which turns the backlight
+	 * off again.
+	 */
+	if (bd->props.brightness == 0)
+		bd->props.brightness = RADEON_MAX_BL_LEVEL;
 	bd->props.power = FB_BLANK_UNBLANK;
 	backlight_update_status(bd);