diff --git a/arch/arm/kernel/smp.c b/arch/arm/kernel/smp.c
index cdeb727527d3..d616ed51e7a7 100644
--- a/arch/arm/kernel/smp.c
+++ b/arch/arm/kernel/smp.c
@@ -295,13 +295,6 @@ asmlinkage void __cpuinit secondary_start_kernel(void)
 	 */
 	percpu_timer_setup();
 
-	while (!cpu_active(cpu))
-		cpu_relax();
-
-	/*
-	 * cpu_active bit is set, so it's safe to enalbe interrupts
-	 * now.
-	 */
 	local_irq_enable();
 	local_fiq_enable();
 
diff --git a/arch/hexagon/kernel/smp.c b/arch/hexagon/kernel/smp.c
index c871a2cffaef..0123c63e9a3a 100644
--- a/arch/hexagon/kernel/smp.c
+++ b/arch/hexagon/kernel/smp.c
@@ -179,8 +179,6 @@ void __cpuinit start_secondary(void)
 	printk(KERN_INFO "%s cpu %d\n", __func__, current_thread_info()->cpu);
 
 	set_cpu_online(cpu, true);
-	while (!cpumask_test_cpu(cpu, cpu_active_mask))
-		cpu_relax();
 	local_irq_enable();
 
 	cpu_idle();
diff --git a/arch/s390/kernel/smp.c b/arch/s390/kernel/smp.c
index 2398ce6b15ae..b0e28c47ab83 100644
--- a/arch/s390/kernel/smp.c
+++ b/arch/s390/kernel/smp.c
@@ -550,12 +550,6 @@ int __cpuinit start_secondary(void *cpuvoid)
 	S390_lowcore.restart_psw.addr =
 		PSW_ADDR_AMODE | (unsigned long) psw_restart_int_handler;
 	__ctl_set_bit(0, 28); /* Enable lowcore protection */
-	/*
-	 * Wait until the cpu which brought this one up marked it
-	 * active before enabling interrupts.
-	 */
-	while (!cpumask_test_cpu(smp_processor_id(), cpu_active_mask))
-		cpu_relax();
 	local_irq_enable();
 	/* cpu_idle will call schedule for us */
 	cpu_idle();
diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/smpboot.c b/arch/x86/kernel/smpboot.c
index 66d250c00d11..58f78165d308 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/smpboot.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/smpboot.c
@@ -291,19 +291,6 @@ notrace static void __cpuinit start_secondary(void *unused)
 	per_cpu(cpu_state, smp_processor_id()) = CPU_ONLINE;
 	x86_platform.nmi_init();
 
-	/*
-	 * Wait until the cpu which brought this one up marked it
-	 * online before enabling interrupts. If we don't do that then
-	 * we can end up waking up the softirq thread before this cpu
-	 * reached the active state, which makes the scheduler unhappy
-	 * and schedule the softirq thread on the wrong cpu. This is
-	 * only observable with forced threaded interrupts, but in
-	 * theory it could also happen w/o them. It's just way harder
-	 * to achieve.
-	 */
-	while (!cpumask_test_cpu(smp_processor_id(), cpu_active_mask))
-		cpu_relax();
-
 	/* enable local interrupts */
 	local_irq_enable();
 
diff --git a/kernel/sched/core.c b/kernel/sched/core.c
index 95545126be1c..b1ccce819ce2 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/core.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/core.c
@@ -5410,7 +5410,7 @@ static int __cpuinit sched_cpu_active(struct notifier_block *nfb,
 				      unsigned long action, void *hcpu)
 {
 	switch (action & ~CPU_TASKS_FROZEN) {
-	case CPU_ONLINE:
+	case CPU_STARTING:
 	case CPU_DOWN_FAILED:
 		set_cpu_active((long)hcpu, true);
 		return NOTIFY_OK;