diff --git a/drivers/mmc/host/atmel-mci-regs.h b/drivers/mmc/host/atmel-mci-regs.h
index ab56f7db5315..c97001e15227 100644
--- a/drivers/mmc/host/atmel-mci-regs.h
+++ b/drivers/mmc/host/atmel-mci-regs.h
@@ -140,6 +140,13 @@
 #define atmci_writel(port,reg,value)			\
 	__raw_writel((value), (port)->regs + reg)
 
+/* On AVR chips the Peripheral DMA Controller is not connected to MCI. */
+#ifdef CONFIG_AVR32
+#	define ATMCI_PDC_CONNECTED	0
+#else
+#	define ATMCI_PDC_CONNECTED	1
+#endif
+
 /*
  * Fix sconfig's burst size according to atmel MCI. We need to convert them as:
  * 1 -> 0, 4 -> 1, 8 -> 2, 16 -> 3.
diff --git a/drivers/mmc/host/atmel-mci.c b/drivers/mmc/host/atmel-mci.c
index 6823d963376e..312c8fd6e6d5 100644
--- a/drivers/mmc/host/atmel-mci.c
+++ b/drivers/mmc/host/atmel-mci.c
@@ -2290,7 +2290,7 @@ static void __init atmci_get_cap(struct atmel_mci *host)
 			"version: 0x%x\n", version);
 
 	host->caps.has_dma_conf_reg = 0;
-	host->caps.has_pdc = 1;
+	host->caps.has_pdc = ATMCI_PDC_CONNECTED;
 	host->caps.has_cfg_reg = 0;
 	host->caps.has_cstor_reg = 0;
 	host->caps.has_highspeed = 0;