diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/setup.c b/arch/x86/kernel/setup.c
index d74ac33..cba8288 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/setup.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/setup.c
@@ -531,12 +531,14 @@
 	if (ret != 0) {
 		/*
 		 * two parts from lib/swiotlb.c:
-		 *	swiotlb size: user specified with swiotlb= or default.
-		 *	swiotlb overflow buffer: now is hardcoded to 32k.
-		 *		We round it to 8M for other buffers that
-		 *		may need to stay low too.
+		 * -swiotlb size: user-specified with swiotlb= or default.
+		 *
+		 * -swiotlb overflow buffer: now hardcoded to 32k. We round it
+		 * to 8M for other buffers that may need to stay low too. Also
+		 * make sure we allocate enough extra low memory so that we
+		 * don't run out of DMA buffers for 32-bit devices.
 		 */
-		low_size = swiotlb_size_or_default() + (8UL<<20);
+		low_size = max(swiotlb_size_or_default() + (8UL<<20), 256UL<<20);
 		auto_set = true;
 	} else {
 		/* passed with crashkernel=0,low ? */