diff --git a/arch/powerpc/xmon/xmon.c b/arch/powerpc/xmon/xmon.c
index 598cdc7c7adc..d712b23974ec 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/xmon/xmon.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/xmon/xmon.c
@@ -315,10 +315,17 @@ static void get_output_lock(void)
 		if (last_speaker == 0)
 			return;
 
-		timeout = 10000000;
+		/*
+		 * Wait a full second for the lock, we might be on a slow
+		 * console, but check every 100us.
+		 */
+		timeout = 10000;
 		while (xmon_speaker == last_speaker) {
-			if (--timeout > 0)
+			if (--timeout > 0) {
+				udelay(100);
 				continue;
+			}
+
 			/* hostile takeover */
 			prev = cmpxchg(&xmon_speaker, last_speaker, me);
 			if (prev == last_speaker)