diff --git a/arch/ia64/kernel/machvec.c b/arch/ia64/kernel/machvec.c
index 13df337508e7fe5f6b626ff66735026469acb1b3..7ccb228ceedc337e90ae956ad3d1934e66c25bda 100644
--- a/arch/ia64/kernel/machvec.c
+++ b/arch/ia64/kernel/machvec.c
@@ -13,14 +13,6 @@
 struct ia64_machine_vector ia64_mv;
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(ia64_mv);
 
-static __initdata const char *mvec_name;
-static __init int setup_mvec(char *s)
-{
-	mvec_name = s;
-	return 0;
-}
-early_param("machvec", setup_mvec);
-
 static struct ia64_machine_vector * __init
 lookup_machvec (const char *name)
 {
@@ -41,7 +33,7 @@ machvec_init (const char *name)
 	struct ia64_machine_vector *mv;
 
 	if (!name)
-		name = mvec_name ? mvec_name : acpi_get_sysname();
+		name = acpi_get_sysname();
 	mv = lookup_machvec(name);
 	if (!mv)
 		panic("generic kernel failed to find machine vector for"
@@ -51,6 +43,23 @@ machvec_init (const char *name)
 	printk(KERN_INFO "booting generic kernel on platform %s\n", name);
 }
 
+void __init
+machvec_init_from_cmdline(const char *cmdline)
+{
+	char str[64];
+	const char *start;
+	char *end;
+
+	if (! (start = strstr(cmdline, "machvec=")) )
+		return machvec_init(NULL);
+
+	strlcpy(str, start + strlen("machvec="), sizeof(str));
+	if ( (end = strchr(str, ' ')) )
+		*end = '\0';
+
+	return machvec_init(str);
+}
+
 #endif /* CONFIG_IA64_GENERIC */
 
 void
diff --git a/arch/ia64/kernel/setup.c b/arch/ia64/kernel/setup.c
index cf06fe799041d3ed269c849970df9d121283a7af..7cecd2964200dceb63ff6273e55f7aba26b2240e 100644
--- a/arch/ia64/kernel/setup.c
+++ b/arch/ia64/kernel/setup.c
@@ -491,12 +491,17 @@ setup_arch (char **cmdline_p)
 	efi_init();
 	io_port_init();
 
-	parse_early_param();
-
 #ifdef CONFIG_IA64_GENERIC
-	machvec_init(NULL);
+	/* machvec needs to be parsed from the command line
+	 * before parse_early_param() is called to ensure
+	 * that ia64_mv is initialised before any command line
+	 * settings may cause console setup to occur
+	 */
+	machvec_init_from_cmdline(*cmdline_p);
 #endif
 
+	parse_early_param();
+
 	if (early_console_setup(*cmdline_p) == 0)
 		mark_bsp_online();
 
diff --git a/include/asm-ia64/machvec.h b/include/asm-ia64/machvec.h
index ca33eb181ff26949eabc5758b7203b47aa11a154..5cf8bf1e805e6931ee51ea50f24c82fa336b7cda 100644
--- a/include/asm-ia64/machvec.h
+++ b/include/asm-ia64/machvec.h
@@ -275,6 +275,7 @@ struct ia64_machine_vector {
 
 extern struct ia64_machine_vector ia64_mv;
 extern void machvec_init (const char *name);
+extern void machvec_init_from_cmdline(const char *cmdline);
 
 # else
 #  error Unknown configuration.  Update asm-ia64/machvec.h.