diff --git a/arch/arm/Kconfig b/arch/arm/Kconfig
index 7275009686e6..5be55d950ab5 100644
--- a/arch/arm/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/arm/Kconfig
@@ -1516,6 +1516,9 @@ config ARCH_SPARSEMEM_DEFAULT
 config ARCH_SELECT_MEMORY_MODEL
 	def_bool ARCH_SPARSEMEM_ENABLE
 
+config HAVE_ARCH_PFN_VALID
+	def_bool ARCH_HAS_HOLES_MEMORYMODEL || !SPARSEMEM
+
 config HIGHMEM
 	bool "High Memory Support"
 	depends on MMU
diff --git a/arch/arm/include/asm/page.h b/arch/arm/include/asm/page.h
index f51a69595f6e..ac75d0848889 100644
--- a/arch/arm/include/asm/page.h
+++ b/arch/arm/include/asm/page.h
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ typedef unsigned long pgprot_t;
 
 typedef struct page *pgtable_t;
 
-#ifndef CONFIG_SPARSEMEM
+#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_PFN_VALID
 extern int pfn_valid(unsigned long);
 #endif
 
diff --git a/arch/arm/mm/init.c b/arch/arm/mm/init.c
index 3f17ea146f0e..bbc3346e8bcd 100644
--- a/arch/arm/mm/init.c
+++ b/arch/arm/mm/init.c
@@ -273,13 +273,15 @@ static void __init arm_bootmem_free(unsigned long min, unsigned long max_low,
 	free_area_init_node(0, zone_size, min, zhole_size);
 }
 
-#ifndef CONFIG_SPARSEMEM
+#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_PFN_VALID
 int pfn_valid(unsigned long pfn)
 {
 	return memblock_is_memory(pfn << PAGE_SHIFT);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(pfn_valid);
+#endif
 
+#ifndef CONFIG_SPARSEMEM
 static void arm_memory_present(void)
 {
 }
diff --git a/include/linux/mmzone.h b/include/linux/mmzone.h
index 217bcf6bca77..261f299c9441 100644
--- a/include/linux/mmzone.h
+++ b/include/linux/mmzone.h
@@ -1056,12 +1056,14 @@ static inline struct mem_section *__pfn_to_section(unsigned long pfn)
 	return __nr_to_section(pfn_to_section_nr(pfn));
 }
 
+#ifndef CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_PFN_VALID
 static inline int pfn_valid(unsigned long pfn)
 {
 	if (pfn_to_section_nr(pfn) >= NR_MEM_SECTIONS)
 		return 0;
 	return valid_section(__nr_to_section(pfn_to_section_nr(pfn)));
 }
+#endif
 
 static inline int pfn_present(unsigned long pfn)
 {