diff --git a/init/main.c b/init/main.c
index d324801729ba713938481fd4f3a8199fdc2eb6e9..b5e421e39ede7ec40d61da8345e8115a749dc0df 100644
--- a/init/main.c
+++ b/init/main.c
@@ -383,6 +383,13 @@ static void noinline rest_init(void)
 	numa_default_policy();
 	unlock_kernel();
 	preempt_enable_no_resched();
+
+	/*
+	 * The boot idle thread must execute schedule()
+	 * at least one to get things moving:
+	 */
+	schedule();
+
 	cpu_idle();
 } 
 
diff --git a/kernel/sched.c b/kernel/sched.c
index e2b0d3e4dd067ad4e6df0362f265189ac8d17049..5f2182d42241d20b41a12eb9da9671927b5b36d8 100644
--- a/kernel/sched.c
+++ b/kernel/sched.c
@@ -4166,6 +4166,14 @@ void show_state(void)
 	read_unlock(&tasklist_lock);
 }
 
+/**
+ * init_idle - set up an idle thread for a given CPU
+ * @idle: task in question
+ * @cpu: cpu the idle task belongs to
+ *
+ * NOTE: this function does not set the idle thread's NEED_RESCHED
+ * flag, to make booting more robust.
+ */
 void __devinit init_idle(task_t *idle, int cpu)
 {
 	runqueue_t *rq = cpu_rq(cpu);
@@ -4183,7 +4191,6 @@ void __devinit init_idle(task_t *idle, int cpu)
 #if defined(CONFIG_SMP) && defined(__ARCH_WANT_UNLOCKED_CTXSW)
 	idle->oncpu = 1;
 #endif
-	set_tsk_need_resched(idle);
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&rq->lock, flags);
 
 	/* Set the preempt count _outside_ the spinlocks! */