diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_guest.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_guest.h
index 2fca299f7e19..c63105d2c9e7 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_guest.h
+++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_guest.h
@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@ static inline bool is_kvm_guest(void)
 	return static_branch_unlikely(&kvm_guest);
 }
 
-bool check_kvm_guest(void);
+int check_kvm_guest(void);
 #else
 static inline bool is_kvm_guest(void) { return false; }
-static inline bool check_kvm_guest(void) { return false; }
+static inline int check_kvm_guest(void) { return 0; }
 #endif
 
 #endif /* _ASM_POWERPC_KVM_GUEST_H_ */
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/firmware.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/firmware.c
index c9e2819b095a..c7022c41cc31 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/firmware.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/firmware.c
@@ -23,18 +23,20 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(powerpc_firmware_features);
 
 #if defined(CONFIG_PPC_PSERIES) || defined(CONFIG_KVM_GUEST)
 DEFINE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(kvm_guest);
-bool check_kvm_guest(void)
+int __init check_kvm_guest(void)
 {
 	struct device_node *hyper_node;
 
 	hyper_node = of_find_node_by_path("/hypervisor");
 	if (!hyper_node)
-		return false;
+		return 0;
 
 	if (!of_device_is_compatible(hyper_node, "linux,kvm"))
-		return false;
+		return 0;
 
 	static_branch_enable(&kvm_guest);
-	return true;
+
+	return 0;
 }
+core_initcall(check_kvm_guest); // before kvm_guest_init()
 #endif
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/platforms/pseries/smp.c b/arch/powerpc/platforms/pseries/smp.c
index c70b4be9f0a5..096629f54576 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/platforms/pseries/smp.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/platforms/pseries/smp.c
@@ -211,7 +211,9 @@ static __init void pSeries_smp_probe(void)
 	if (!cpu_has_feature(CPU_FTR_SMT))
 		return;
 
-	if (check_kvm_guest()) {
+	check_kvm_guest();
+
+	if (is_kvm_guest()) {
 		/*
 		 * KVM emulates doorbells by disabling FSCR[MSGP] so msgsndp
 		 * faults to the hypervisor which then reads the instruction