*  0: the lapic NMI watchdog is disabled, but can be enabled
  */
 atomic_t nmi_active = ATOMIC_INIT(0);          /* oprofile uses this */
+static int panic_on_timeout;
 
 unsigned int nmi_watchdog = NMI_DEFAULT;
 static unsigned int nmi_hz = HZ;
 {
        int nmi;
 
+       if (!strncmp(str, "panic", 5)) {
+               panic_on_timeout = 1;
+               str = strchr(str, ',');
+               if (!str)
+                       return 1;
+               ++str;
+       }
+
        get_option(&str, &nmi);
 
        if ((nmi >= NMI_INVALID) || (nmi < NMI_NONE))
                         * die_nmi will return ONLY if NOTIFY_STOP happens..
                         */
                        die_nmi("BUG: NMI Watchdog detected LOCKUP",
-                               regs, 0);
+                               regs, panic_on_timeout);
        } else {
                __get_cpu_var(last_irq_sum) = sum;
                local_set(&__get_cpu_var(alert_counter), 0);