diff --git a/cpus.c b/cpus.c
index 9c8bd2c99144..740b8dc3f808 100644
--- a/cpus.c
+++ b/cpus.c
@@ -253,19 +253,21 @@ void cpu_update_icount(CPUState *cpu)
 
 int64_t cpu_get_icount_raw(void)
 {
-    int64_t icount;
     CPUState *cpu = current_cpu;
 
-    icount = atomic_read(&timers_state.qemu_icount);
     if (cpu && cpu->running) {
         if (!cpu->can_do_io) {
             fprintf(stderr, "Bad icount read\n");
             exit(1);
         }
         /* Take into account what has run */
-        icount += cpu_get_icount_executed(cpu);
+        cpu_update_icount(cpu);
     }
-    return icount;
+#ifdef CONFIG_ATOMIC64
+    return atomic_read__nocheck(&timers_state.qemu_icount);
+#else /* FIXME: we need 64bit atomics to do this safely */
+    return timers_state.qemu_icount;
+#endif
 }
 
 /* Return the virtual CPU time, based on the instruction counter.  */