diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/intel_cacheinfo.c b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/intel_cacheinfo.c
index 8b4507b8469b..1b889860eb73 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/intel_cacheinfo.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/intel_cacheinfo.c
@@ -352,8 +352,8 @@ unsigned int __cpuinit init_intel_cacheinfo(struct cpuinfo_x86 *c)
 	 */
 	if ((num_cache_leaves == 0 || c->x86 == 15) && c->cpuid_level > 1) {
 		/* supports eax=2  call */
-		int i, j, n;
-		int regs[4];
+		int j, n;
+		unsigned int regs[4];
 		unsigned char *dp = (unsigned char *)regs;
 		int only_trace = 0;
 
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ unsigned int __cpuinit init_intel_cacheinfo(struct cpuinfo_x86 *c)
 
 			/* If bit 31 is set, this is an unknown format */
 			for ( j = 0 ; j < 3 ; j++ ) {
-				if ( regs[j] < 0 ) regs[j] = 0;
+				if (regs[j] & (1 << 31)) regs[j] = 0;
 			}
 
 			/* Byte 0 is level count, not a descriptor */