diff --git a/stand/efi/loader/main.c b/stand/efi/loader/main.c
--- a/stand/efi/loader/main.c
+++ b/stand/efi/loader/main.c
@@ -910,6 +910,7 @@
 	char buf[24];
 	int revision;
 
+	feature_enable(FEATURE_EARLY_ACPI);
 	if ((rsdp = efi_get_table(&acpi20)) == NULL)
 		if ((rsdp = efi_get_table(&acpi)) == NULL)
 			return;
diff --git a/stand/i386/libi386/biosacpi.c b/stand/i386/libi386/biosacpi.c
--- a/stand/i386/libi386/biosacpi.c
+++ b/stand/i386/libi386/biosacpi.c
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@
     char		buf[24];
     int			revision;
 
+    feature_enable(FEATURE_EARLY_ACPI);
+
     /* locate and validate the RSDP */
     if ((rsdp = biosacpi_find_rsdp()) == NULL)
 	return;
diff --git a/stand/lua/core.lua b/stand/lua/core.lua
--- a/stand/lua/core.lua
+++ b/stand/lua/core.lua
@@ -133,17 +133,20 @@
 end
 
 function core.hasACPI()
-	return loader.getenv("acpi.rsdp") ~= nil
-end
+	-- We can't trust acpi.rsdp to be set if the loader binary doesn't do
+	-- ACPI detection early enough.  UEFI loader historically didn't, so
+	-- we'll fallback to assuming ACPI is enabled if this binary does not
+	-- declare that it probes for ACPI early enough
+	if loader.getenv("acpi.rsdp") ~= nil then
+		return true
+	end
 
-function core.isX86()
-	return loader.machine_arch == "i386" or loader.machine_arch == "amd64"
+	return core.hasFeature("EARLY_ACPI")
 end
 
 function core.getACPI()
 	if not core.hasACPI() then
-		-- x86 requires ACPI pretty much
-		return false or core.isX86()
+		return false
 	end
 
 	-- Otherwise, respect disabled if it's set