diff --git a/kernel/timer.c b/kernel/timer.c
index d8026bbf389e..0d770c144697 100644
--- a/kernel/timer.c
+++ b/kernel/timer.c
@@ -1457,6 +1457,19 @@ void run_local_timers(void)
 	 * the timer softirq.
 	 */
 #ifdef CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT_FULL
+
+#ifndef CONFIG_SMP
+	/*
+	 * The spin_do_trylock() later may fail as the lock may be hold before
+	 * the interrupt arrived. The spin-lock debugging code will raise a
+	 * warning if the try_lock fails on UP. Since this is only an
+	 * optimization for the FULL_NO_HZ case (not to run the timer softirq on
+	 * an nohz_full CPU) we don't really care and shedule the softirq.
+	 */
+	raise_softirq(TIMER_SOFTIRQ);
+	return;
+#endif
+
 	/* On RT, irq work runs from softirq */
 	if (irq_work_needs_cpu()) {
 		raise_softirq(TIMER_SOFTIRQ);