diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 73a65128c6..c56b3a893b 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -5271,13 +5271,25 @@ qemuDomainDefValidateFeatures(const virDomainDef *def,
             }
             break;
 
+        case VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_PVSPINLOCK:
+            if (def->features[i] != VIR_TRISTATE_SWITCH_ABSENT &&
+                !ARCH_IS_X86(def->os.arch)) {
+                virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
+                               _("The '%s' feature is not supported for "
+                                 "architecture '%s' or machine type '%s'"),
+                                 featureName,
+                                 virArchToString(def->os.arch),
+                                 def->os.machine);
+                 return -1;
+            }
+            break;
+
         case VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_ACPI:
         case VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_PAE:
         case VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_HAP:
         case VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_VIRIDIAN:
         case VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_PRIVNET:
         case VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_HYPERV:
-        case VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_PVSPINLOCK:
         case VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_CAPABILITIES:
         case VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_PMU:
         case VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_MSRS: