diff --git a/mm/slab.c b/mm/slab.c
index c32af7e..b1d643b 100644
--- a/mm/slab.c
+++ b/mm/slab.c
@@ -700,6 +700,14 @@
 	FULL
 } g_cpucache_up;
 
+/*
+ * used by boot code to determine if it can use slab based allocator
+ */
+int slab_is_available(void)
+{
+	return g_cpucache_up == FULL;
+}
+
 static DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct work_struct, reap_work);
 
 static void free_block(struct kmem_cache *cachep, void **objpp, int len,
diff --git a/mm/sparse.c b/mm/sparse.c
index d7c32de..c5e89eb 100644
--- a/mm/sparse.c
+++ b/mm/sparse.c
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 	unsigned long array_size = SECTIONS_PER_ROOT *
 				   sizeof(struct mem_section);
 
-	if (system_state == SYSTEM_RUNNING)
+	if (slab_is_available())
 		section = kmalloc_node(array_size, GFP_KERNEL, nid);
 	else
 		section = alloc_bootmem_node(NODE_DATA(nid), array_size);