diff --git a/mm/sparse.c b/mm/sparse.c
index 54f3940..52843a7 100644
--- a/mm/sparse.c
+++ b/mm/sparse.c
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 #include <linux/spinlock.h>
 #include <linux/vmalloc.h>
 #include <asm/dma.h>
+#include <asm/pgalloc.h>
+#include <asm/pgtable.h>
 
 /*
  * Permanent SPARSEMEM data:
@@ -222,11 +224,10 @@
 	return NULL;
 }
 
-static struct page __init *sparse_early_mem_map_alloc(unsigned long pnum)
+#ifndef CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_VMEMMAP
+struct page __init *sparse_early_mem_map_populate(unsigned long pnum, int nid)
 {
 	struct page *map;
-	struct mem_section *ms = __nr_to_section(pnum);
-	int nid = sparse_early_nid(ms);
 
 	map = alloc_remap(nid, sizeof(struct page) * PAGES_PER_SECTION);
 	if (map)
@@ -239,10 +240,22 @@
 
 	map = alloc_bootmem_node(NODE_DATA(nid),
 			sizeof(struct page) * PAGES_PER_SECTION);
+	return map;
+}
+#endif /* !CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_VMEMMAP */
+
+struct page __init *sparse_early_mem_map_alloc(unsigned long pnum)
+{
+	struct page *map;
+	struct mem_section *ms = __nr_to_section(pnum);
+	int nid = sparse_early_nid(ms);
+
+	map = sparse_early_mem_map_populate(pnum, nid);
 	if (map)
 		return map;
 
-	printk(KERN_WARNING "%s: allocation failed\n", __FUNCTION__);
+	printk(KERN_ERR "%s: sparsemem memory map backing failed "
+			"some memory will not be available.\n", __FUNCTION__);
 	ms->section_mem_map = 0;
 	return NULL;
 }