diff --git a/arch/powerpc/platforms/powermac/Makefile b/arch/powerpc/platforms/powermac/Makefile
index 78093d7f97af..4d72c8f72159 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/platforms/powermac/Makefile
+++ b/arch/powerpc/platforms/powermac/Makefile
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@ obj-y				+= pic.o setup.o time.o feature.o pci.o \
 obj-$(CONFIG_PMAC_BACKLIGHT)	+= backlight.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_PMAC)	+= cpufreq_32.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_PMAC64)	+= cpufreq_64.o
-obj-$(CONFIG_NVRAM)		+= nvram.o
+# CONFIG_NVRAM is an arch. independant tristate symbol, for pmac32 we really
+# need this to be a bool.  Cheat here and pretend CONFIG_NVRAM=m is really
+# CONFIG_NVRAM=y
+obj-$(CONFIG_NVRAM:m=y)		+= nvram.o
 # ppc64 pmac doesn't define CONFIG_NVRAM but needs nvram stuff
 obj-$(CONFIG_PPC64)		+= nvram.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_PPC32)		+= bootx_init.o
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/platforms/powermac/setup.c b/arch/powerpc/platforms/powermac/setup.c
index bf44c5441a36..00bd0166d07f 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/platforms/powermac/setup.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/platforms/powermac/setup.c
@@ -337,7 +337,8 @@ static void __init pmac_setup_arch(void)
 	find_via_pmu();
 	smu_init();
 
-#if defined(CONFIG_NVRAM) || defined(CONFIG_PPC64)
+#if defined(CONFIG_NVRAM) || defined(CONFIG_NVRAM_MODULE) || \
+    defined(CONFIG_PPC64)
 	pmac_nvram_init();
 #endif