diff --git a/src/arch/i386/core/relocate.c b/src/arch/i386/core/relocate.c
index 436432e5..782062a8 100644
--- a/src/arch/i386/core/relocate.c
+++ b/src/arch/i386/core/relocate.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-#ifndef	NORELOCATE
-
-#include "etherboot.h"
+#include "virtaddr.h"
 #include "memsizes.h"
+#include "osdep.h"
+#include "etherboot.h"
 
 /* by Eric Biederman */
 
@@ -16,10 +16,37 @@
  * 
  */
 
-void relocate(void)
-{
+/*
+ * relocate() must be called without any hardware resources pointing
+ * at the current copy of Etherboot.  The easiest way to achieve this
+ * is to call relocate() from within arch_initialise(), before the NIC
+ * gets touched in any way.
+ *
+ */
+
+/*
+ * The linker passes in the symbol _max_align, which is the alignment
+ * that we must preserve, in bytes.
+ *
+ */
+extern char _max_align[];
+#define max_align ( ( unsigned int ) _max_align )
+
+/* Linker symbols */
+extern char _text[];
+extern char _end[];
+
+#undef DBG
+#ifdef DEBUG_RELOCATE
+#define DBG(...) printf ( __VA_ARGS__ )
+#else
+#define DBG(...)
+#endif
+
+void relocate ( void ) {
 	unsigned long addr, eaddr, size;
 	unsigned i;
+
 	/* Walk through the memory map and find the highest address
 	 * below 4GB that etherboot will fit into.  Ensure etherboot
 	 * lies entirely within a range with A20=0.  This means that
@@ -27,78 +54,133 @@ void relocate(void)
 	 * etherboot code is still visible and we have a chance to
 	 * diagnose the problem.
 	 */
-	/* First find the size of etherboot */
-	addr = virt_to_phys(_text);
-	eaddr = virt_to_phys(_end);
-	size = (eaddr - addr + 0xf) & ~0xf;
 
-	/* If the current etherboot is beyond MAX_ADDR pretend it is
-	 * at the lowest possible address.
+	/* First find the size of etherboot, including enough space to
+	 * pad it to the required alignment
 	 */
-	if (eaddr > MAX_ADDR) {
+	size = _end - _text + max_align - 1;
+
+	/* Current end address of Etherboot.  If the current etherboot
+	 * is beyond MAX_ADDR pretend it is at the lowest possible
+	 * address.
+	 */
+	eaddr = virt_to_phys(_end);
+	if ( eaddr > MAX_ADDR ) {
 		eaddr = 0;
 	}
 
-	for(i = 0; i < meminfo.map_count; i++) {
+	DBG ( "Relocate: currently at [%x,%x)\n"
+	      "...need %x bytes for %d-byte alignment\n",
+	      virt_to_phys ( _text ), eaddr, size, max_align );
+
+	for ( i = 0; i < meminfo.map_count; i++ ) {
 		unsigned long r_start, r_end;
+
+		DBG ( "Considering [%x%x,%x%x)\n",
+		      ( unsigned long ) ( meminfo.map[i].addr >> 32 ),
+		      ( unsigned long ) meminfo.map[i].addr,
+		      ( unsigned long )
+		       ( ( meminfo.map[i].addr + meminfo.map[i].size ) >> 32 ),
+		      ( unsigned long )
+		       ( meminfo.map[i].addr + meminfo.map[i].size ) );
+		
+		/* Check block is usable memory */
 		if (meminfo.map[i].type != E820_RAM) {
+			DBG ( "...not RAM\n" );
 			continue;
 		}
-		if (meminfo.map[i].addr > MAX_ADDR) {
-			continue;
-		}
-		if (meminfo.map[i].size > MAX_ADDR) {
+
+		/* Truncate block to MAX_ADDR.  This will be less than
+		 * 4GB, which means that we can get away with using
+		 * just 32-bit arithmetic after this stage.
+		 */
+		if ( meminfo.map[i].addr > MAX_ADDR ) {
+			DBG ( "...starts after MAX_ADDR=%x\n", MAX_ADDR );
 			continue;
 		}
 		r_start = meminfo.map[i].addr;
-		r_end = r_start + meminfo.map[i].size;
-		/* Make the addresses 16 byte (128 bit) aligned */
-		r_start = (r_start + 15) & ~15;
-		r_end = r_end & ~15;
-		if (r_end < r_start) {
+		if ( meminfo.map[i].addr + meminfo.map[i].size > MAX_ADDR ) {
 			r_end = MAX_ADDR;
+			DBG ( "...end truncated to MAX_ADDR=%x\n", MAX_ADDR );
+		} else {
+			r_end = meminfo.map[i].addr + meminfo.map[i].size;
 		}
-		if (r_end < size) {
-			/* Avoid overflow weirdness when r_end - size < 0 */
-			continue;
-		}
+
 		/* Shrink the range down to use only even megabytes
 		 * (i.e. A20=0).
 		 */
-		if ( r_end & 0x100000 ) {
-			/* If r_end is in an odd megabyte, round down
-			 * r_end to the top of the next even megabyte.
+		if ( ( r_end - 1 ) & 0x100000 ) {
+			/* If last byte that might be used (r_end-1)
+			 * is in an odd megabyte, round down r_end to
+			 * the top of the next even megabyte.
 			 */
-			r_end = r_end & ~0xfffff;
+			r_end = ( r_end - 1 ) & ~0xfffff;
+			DBG ( "...end truncated to %x "
+			      "(avoid ending in odd megabyte)\n",
+			      r_end );
 		} else if ( ( r_end - size ) & 0x100000 ) {
-			/* If r_end is in an even megabyte, but the
-			 * start of Etherboot would be in an odd
-			 * megabyte, round down to the top of the next
-			 * even megabyte.
-			*/
-			r_end = ( r_end - 0x100000 ) & ~0xfffff;
+			/* If the last byte that might be used
+			 * (r_end-1) is in an even megabyte, but the
+			 * first byte that might be used (r_end-size)
+			 * is an odd megabyte, round down to the top
+			 * of the next even megabyte.
+			 * 
+			 * Make sure that we don't accidentally wrap
+			 * r_end below 0.
+			 */
+			if ( r_end > 0x100000 ) {
+				r_end = ( r_end - 0x100000 ) & ~0xfffff;
+				DBG ( "...end truncated to %x "
+				      "(avoid starting in odd megabyte)\n",
+				      r_end );
+			}
 		}
+
+		DBG ( "...usable portion is [%x,%x)\n", r_start, r_end );
+
 		/* If we have rounded down r_end below r_ start, skip
 		 * this block.
 		 */
 		if ( r_end < r_start ) {
+			DBG ( "...truncated to negative size\n" );
 			continue;
 		}
-		if (eaddr < r_end - size) {
-			addr = r_end - size;
+
+		/* Check that there is enough space to fit in Etherboot */
+		if ( r_end - r_start < size ) {
+			DBG ( "...too small (need %x bytes)\n", size );
+			continue;
+		}
+
+		/* If the start address of the Etherboot we would
+		 * place in this block is higher than the end address
+		 * of the current highest block, use this block.
+		 *
+		 * Note that this avoids overlaps with the current
+		 * Etherboot, as well as choosing the highest of all
+		 * viable blocks.
+		 */
+		if ( r_end - size > eaddr ) {
 			eaddr = r_end;
+			DBG ( "...new best block found.\n" );
 		}
 	}
-	if (addr != virt_to_phys(_text)) {
-		unsigned long old_addr = virt_to_phys(_text);
-		printf("Relocating _text from: [%lx,%lx) to [%lx,%lx)\n",
-			old_addr, virt_to_phys(_end),
-			addr, eaddr);
-		/* arch_relocate_to ( addr ) */
-		cleanup();
-		relocate_to(addr);
-		/* arch_relocated_from ( addr ) */
+
+	DBG ( "New location will be in [%x,%x)\n", eaddr - size, eaddr );
+
+	/* Calculate new location of Etherboot, and align it to the
+	 * required alignemnt.
+	 */
+	addr = eaddr - size;
+	addr += ( virt_to_phys ( _text ) - addr ) & ( max_align - 1 );
+	DBG ( "After alignment, new location is [%x,%x)\n",
+	      addr, addr + _end - _text );
+
+	if ( addr != virt_to_phys ( _text ) ) {
+		DBG ( "Relocating _text from: [%lx,%lx) to [%lx,%lx)\n",
+		      virt_to_phys ( _text ), virt_to_phys ( _end ),
+		      addr, addr + _end - _text );
+
+		relocate_to ( addr );
 	}
 }
-
-#endif /* NORELOCATE */