diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/perf_counter.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/perf_counter.c
index bd6ba85beb54..6e27913ec0d8 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/perf_counter.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/perf_counter.c
@@ -32,6 +32,15 @@ DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct cpu_hw_counters, cpu_hw_counters);
 
 struct power_pmu *ppmu;
 
+/*
+ * Normally, to ignore kernel events we set the FCS (freeze counters
+ * in supervisor mode) bit in MMCR0, but if the kernel runs with the
+ * hypervisor bit set in the MSR, or if we are running on a processor
+ * where the hypervisor bit is forced to 1 (as on Apple G5 processors),
+ * then we need to use the FCHV bit to ignore kernel events.
+ */
+static unsigned int freeze_counters_kernel = MMCR0_FCS;
+
 void perf_counter_print_debug(void)
 {
 }
@@ -364,7 +373,7 @@ void hw_perf_restore(u64 disable)
 	if (counter->hw_event.exclude_user)
 		cpuhw->mmcr[0] |= MMCR0_FCP;
 	if (counter->hw_event.exclude_kernel)
-		cpuhw->mmcr[0] |= MMCR0_FCS;
+		cpuhw->mmcr[0] |= freeze_counters_kernel;
 	if (counter->hw_event.exclude_hv)
 		cpuhw->mmcr[0] |= MMCR0_FCHV;
 
@@ -606,10 +615,7 @@ hw_perf_counter_init(struct perf_counter *counter)
 	/*
 	 * If we are not running on a hypervisor, force the
 	 * exclude_hv bit to 0 so that we don't care what
-	 * the user set it to.  This also means that we don't
-	 * set the MMCR0_FCHV bit, which unconditionally freezes
-	 * the counters on the PPC970 variants used in Apple G5
-	 * machines (since MSR.HV is always 1 on those machines).
+	 * the user set it to.
 	 */
 	if (!firmware_has_feature(FW_FEATURE_LPAR))
 		counter->hw_event.exclude_hv = 0;
@@ -841,6 +847,13 @@ static int init_perf_counters(void)
 		ppmu = &power6_pmu;
 		break;
 	}
+
+	/*
+	 * Use FCHV to ignore kernel events if MSR.HV is set.
+	 */
+	if (mfmsr() & MSR_HV)
+		freeze_counters_kernel = MMCR0_FCHV;
+
 	return 0;
 }