diff --git a/drivers/rtc/interface.c b/drivers/rtc/interface.c
index dc87eda65814..eb415bd76494 100644
--- a/drivers/rtc/interface.c
+++ b/drivers/rtc/interface.c
@@ -458,6 +458,11 @@ int rtc_update_irq_enable(struct rtc_device *rtc, unsigned int enabled)
 	if (rtc->uie_rtctimer.enabled == enabled)
 		goto out;
 
+	if (rtc->uie_unsupported) {
+		err = -EINVAL;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
 	if (enabled) {
 		struct rtc_time tm;
 		ktime_t now, onesec;
diff --git a/drivers/rtc/rtc-mpc5121.c b/drivers/rtc/rtc-mpc5121.c
index 9d3caccfc250..613447abdbe5 100644
--- a/drivers/rtc/rtc-mpc5121.c
+++ b/drivers/rtc/rtc-mpc5121.c
@@ -360,6 +360,8 @@ static int __devinit mpc5121_rtc_probe(struct platform_device *op)
 						&mpc5200_rtc_ops, THIS_MODULE);
 	}
 
+	rtc->rtc->uie_unsupported = 1;
+
 	if (IS_ERR(rtc->rtc)) {
 		err = PTR_ERR(rtc->rtc);
 		goto out_free_irq;
diff --git a/include/linux/rtc.h b/include/linux/rtc.h
index 93f4d035076b..fcabfb4873c8 100644
--- a/include/linux/rtc.h
+++ b/include/linux/rtc.h
@@ -202,7 +202,8 @@ struct rtc_device
 	struct hrtimer pie_timer; /* sub second exp, so needs hrtimer */
 	int pie_enabled;
 	struct work_struct irqwork;
-
+	/* Some hardware can't support UIE mode */
+	int uie_unsupported;
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_RTC_INTF_DEV_UIE_EMUL
 	struct work_struct uie_task;