diff --git a/arch/arm/boot/compressed/head.S b/arch/arm/boot/compressed/head.S
index 90275f036cd1..49ca86e37b8d 100644
--- a/arch/arm/boot/compressed/head.S
+++ b/arch/arm/boot/compressed/head.S
@@ -652,6 +652,15 @@ __setup_mmu:	sub	r3, r4, #16384		@ Page directory size
 		mov	pc, lr
 ENDPROC(__setup_mmu)
 
+@ Enable unaligned access on v6, to allow better code generation
+@ for the decompressor C code:
+__armv6_mmu_cache_on:
+		mrc	p15, 0, r0, c1, c0, 0	@ read SCTLR
+		bic	r0, r0, #2		@ A (no unaligned access fault)
+		orr	r0, r0, #1 << 22	@ U (v6 unaligned access model)
+		mcr	p15, 0, r0, c1, c0, 0	@ write SCTLR
+		b	__armv4_mmu_cache_on
+
 __arm926ejs_mmu_cache_on:
 #ifdef CONFIG_CPU_DCACHE_WRITETHROUGH
 		mov	r0, #4			@ put dcache in WT mode
@@ -694,6 +703,9 @@ __armv7_mmu_cache_on:
 		bic	r0, r0, #1 << 28	@ clear SCTLR.TRE
 		orr	r0, r0, #0x5000		@ I-cache enable, RR cache replacement
 		orr	r0, r0, #0x003c		@ write buffer
+		bic	r0, r0, #2		@ A (no unaligned access fault)
+		orr	r0, r0, #1 << 22	@ U (v6 unaligned access model)
+						@ (needed for ARM1176)
 #ifdef CONFIG_MMU
 #ifdef CONFIG_CPU_ENDIAN_BE8
 		orr	r0, r0, #1 << 25	@ big-endian page tables
@@ -914,7 +926,7 @@ proc_types:
 
 		.word	0x0007b000		@ ARMv6
 		.word	0x000ff000
-		W(b)	__armv4_mmu_cache_on
+		W(b)	__armv6_mmu_cache_on
 		W(b)	__armv4_mmu_cache_off
 		W(b)	__armv6_mmu_cache_flush