diff -r ec1918ac9aa7 -r 5d577db3c48f src/sim/system.cc
--- a/src/sim/system.cc	Thu Aug 16 16:27:46 2012 -0400
+++ b/src/sim/system.cc	Thu Aug 16 16:27:49 2012 -0400
@@ -267,6 +267,13 @@
          * Load the kernel code into memory
          */
         if (params()->kernel != "")  {
+            // Validate kernel mapping before loading binary
+            if (!(isMemAddr(kernelStart & loadAddrMask) &&
+                            isMemAddr(kernelEnd & loadAddrMask))) {
+                fatal("Kernel is mapped to invalid location (not memory). "
+                      "kernelStart 0x(%x) - kernelEnd 0x(%x)\n", kernelStart,
+                      kernelEnd);
+            }
             // Load program sections into memory
             kernel->loadSections(physProxy, loadAddrMask);