diff --git a/drivers/misc/pvpanic/pvpanic.c b/drivers/misc/pvpanic/pvpanic.c
index 700d7d02c800..b9e6400a574b 100644
--- a/drivers/misc/pvpanic/pvpanic.c
+++ b/drivers/misc/pvpanic/pvpanic.c
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ pvpanic_send_event(unsigned int event)
 {
 	struct pvpanic_instance *pi_cur;
 
-	spin_lock(&pvpanic_lock);
+	if (!spin_trylock(&pvpanic_lock))
+		return;
+
 	list_for_each_entry(pi_cur, &pvpanic_list, list) {
 		if (event & pi_cur->capability & pi_cur->events)
 			iowrite8(event, pi_cur->base);
@@ -56,9 +58,13 @@ pvpanic_panic_notify(struct notifier_block *nb, unsigned long code,
 	return NOTIFY_DONE;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Call our notifier very early on panic, deferring the
+ * action taken to the hypervisor.
+ */
 static struct notifier_block pvpanic_panic_nb = {
 	.notifier_call = pvpanic_panic_notify,
-	.priority = 1, /* let this called before broken drm_fb_helper() */
+	.priority = INT_MAX,
 };
 
 static void pvpanic_remove(void *param)