diff --git a/tests/migration/i386/Makefile b/tests/migration/i386/Makefile
index 5c03241..37a72ae 100644
--- a/tests/migration/i386/Makefile
+++ b/tests/migration/i386/Makefile
@@ -4,9 +4,10 @@
 .PHONY: all clean
 all: a-b-bootblock.h
 
-a-b-bootblock.h: x86.bootsect
+a-b-bootblock.h: x86.bootsect x86.o
 	echo "$$__note" > header.tmp
 	xxd -i $< | sed -e 's/.*int.*//' >> header.tmp
+	nm x86.o | awk '{print "#define SYM_"$$3" 0x"$$1}' >> header.tmp
 	mv header.tmp $@
 
 x86.bootsect: x86.boot
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ x86.boot: x86.o
 	$(CROSS_PREFIX)objcopy -O binary $< $@
 
 x86.o: a-b-bootblock.S
-	$(CROSS_PREFIX)gcc -m32 -march=i486 -c $< -o $@
+	$(CROSS_PREFIX)gcc -I.. -m32 -march=i486 -c $< -o $@
 
 clean:
 	@rm -rf *.boot *.o *.bootsect
diff --git a/tests/migration/i386/a-b-bootblock.S b/tests/migration/i386/a-b-bootblock.S
index 6bb9999..6f39eb6 100644
--- a/tests/migration/i386/a-b-bootblock.S
+++ b/tests/migration/i386/a-b-bootblock.S
@@ -9,6 +9,23 @@
 #
 # Author: dgilbert@redhat.com
 
+#include "migration-test.h"
+
+#define ACPI_ENABLE         0xf1
+#define ACPI_PORT_SMI_CMD   0xb2
+#define ACPI_PM_BASE        0x600
+#define PM1A_CNT_OFFSET     4
+
+#define ACPI_SCI_ENABLE     0x0001
+#define ACPI_SLEEP_TYPE     0x0400
+#define ACPI_SLEEP_ENABLE   0x2000
+#define SLEEP (ACPI_SCI_ENABLE + ACPI_SLEEP_TYPE + ACPI_SLEEP_ENABLE)
+
+#define LOW_ADDR            X86_TEST_MEM_START
+#define HIGH_ADDR           X86_TEST_MEM_END
+
+/* Save the suspended status at an address that is not written in the loop. */
+#define suspended           (X86_TEST_MEM_START + 4)
 
 .code16
 .org 0x7c00
@@ -35,8 +52,8 @@ start:             # at 0x7c00 ?
         mov %eax,%ds
 
 # Start from 1MB
-.set TEST_MEM_START, (1024*1024)
-.set TEST_MEM_END, (100*1024*1024)
+.set TEST_MEM_START, X86_TEST_MEM_START
+.set TEST_MEM_END, X86_TEST_MEM_END
 
         mov $65,%ax
         mov $0x3f8,%dx
@@ -69,7 +86,30 @@ innerloop:
         mov $0x3f8,%dx
         outb %al,%dx
 
-        jmp mainloop
+        # should this test suspend?
+        mov (suspend_me),%eax
+        cmp $0,%eax
+        je mainloop
+
+        # are we waking after suspend?  do not suspend again.
+        mov $suspended,%eax
+        mov (%eax),%eax
+        cmp $1,%eax
+        je mainloop
+
+        # enable acpi
+        mov $ACPI_ENABLE,%al
+        outb %al,$ACPI_PORT_SMI_CMD
+
+        # suspend to ram
+        mov $suspended,%eax
+        movl $1,(%eax)
+        mov $SLEEP,%ax
+        mov $(ACPI_PM_BASE + PM1A_CNT_OFFSET),%dx
+        outw %ax,%dx
+        # not reached.  The wakeup causes reset and restart at 0x7c00, and we
+        # do not save and restore registers as a real kernel would do.
+
 
         # GDT magic from old (GPLv2)  Grub startup.S
         .p2align        2       /* force 4-byte alignment */
@@ -95,6 +135,10 @@ gdtdesc:
         .word   0x27                    /* limit */
         .long   gdt                     /* addr */
 
+        /* test launcher can poke a 1 here to exercise suspend */
+suspend_me:
+        .int  0
+
 /* I'm a bootable disk */
 .org 0x7dfe
         .byte 0x55
diff --git a/tests/migration/i386/a-b-bootblock.h b/tests/migration/i386/a-b-bootblock.h
index 5b52391..c83f871 100644
--- a/tests/migration/i386/a-b-bootblock.h
+++ b/tests/migration/i386/a-b-bootblock.h
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * the header and the assembler differences in your patch submission.
  */
 unsigned char x86_bootsect[] = {
-  0xfa, 0x0f, 0x01, 0x16, 0x8c, 0x7c, 0x66, 0xb8, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
+  0xfa, 0x0f, 0x01, 0x16, 0xb8, 0x7c, 0x66, 0xb8, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
   0x0f, 0x22, 0xc0, 0x66, 0xea, 0x20, 0x7c, 0x00, 0x00, 0x08, 0x00, 0x00,
   0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xe4, 0x92, 0x0c, 0x02,
   0xe6, 0x92, 0xb8, 0x10, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x8e, 0xd8, 0x66, 0xb8, 0x41,
@@ -13,13 +13,13 @@ unsigned char x86_bootsect[] = {
   0x40, 0x06, 0x7c, 0xf1, 0xb8, 0x00, 0x00, 0x10, 0x00, 0xfe, 0x00, 0x05,
   0x00, 0x10, 0x00, 0x00, 0x3d, 0x00, 0x00, 0x40, 0x06, 0x7c, 0xf2, 0xfe,
   0xc3, 0x80, 0xe3, 0x3f, 0x75, 0xe6, 0x66, 0xb8, 0x42, 0x00, 0x66, 0xba,
-  0xf8, 0x03, 0xee, 0xeb, 0xdb, 0x8d, 0x76, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
-  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x9a, 0xcf, 0x00,
-  0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x92, 0xcf, 0x00, 0x27, 0x00, 0x74, 0x7c,
-  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
-  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
-  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
-  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
+  0xf8, 0x03, 0xee, 0xa1, 0xbe, 0x7c, 0x00, 0x00, 0x83, 0xf8, 0x00, 0x74,
+  0xd3, 0xb8, 0x04, 0x00, 0x10, 0x00, 0x8b, 0x00, 0x83, 0xf8, 0x01, 0x74,
+  0xc7, 0xb0, 0xf1, 0xe6, 0xb2, 0xb8, 0x04, 0x00, 0x10, 0x00, 0xc7, 0x00,
+  0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x66, 0xb8, 0x01, 0x24, 0x66, 0xba, 0x04, 0x06,
+  0x66, 0xef, 0x66, 0x90, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
+  0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x9a, 0xcf, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00,
+  0x00, 0x92, 0xcf, 0x00, 0x27, 0x00, 0xa0, 0x7c, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
   0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
   0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
   0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
@@ -49,3 +49,13 @@ unsigned char x86_bootsect[] = {
   0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x55, 0xaa
 };
 
+#define SYM_do_zero 0x00007c3d
+#define SYM_gdt 0x00007ca0
+#define SYM_gdtdesc 0x00007cb8
+#define SYM_innerloop 0x00007c51
+#define SYM_mainloop 0x00007c4c
+#define SYM_pre_zero 0x00007c38
+#define SYM_start 0x00007c00
+#define SYM_suspend_me 0x00007cbe
+#define SYM_TEST_MEM_END 0x06400000
+#define SYM_TEST_MEM_START 0x00100000
diff --git a/tests/qtest/migration-test.c b/tests/qtest/migration-test.c
index 05c0740..e10d5a4 100644
--- a/tests/qtest/migration-test.c
+++ b/tests/qtest/migration-test.c
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ static char *bootpath;
 #include "tests/migration/aarch64/a-b-kernel.h"
 #include "tests/migration/s390x/a-b-bios.h"
 
-static void bootfile_create(char *dir)
+static void bootfile_create(char *dir, bool suspend_me)
 {
     const char *arch = qtest_get_arch();
     unsigned char *content;
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ static void bootfile_create(char *dir)
     if (strcmp(arch, "i386") == 0 || strcmp(arch, "x86_64") == 0) {
         /* the assembled x86 boot sector should be exactly one sector large */
         g_assert(sizeof(x86_bootsect) == 512);
+        x86_bootsect[SYM_suspend_me - SYM_start] = suspend_me;
         content = x86_bootsect;
         len = sizeof(x86_bootsect);
     } else if (g_str_equal(arch, "s390x")) {
@@ -646,6 +647,8 @@ typedef struct {
     bool use_dirty_ring;
     const char *opts_source;
     const char *opts_target;
+    /* suspend the src before migrating to dest. */
+    bool suspend_me;
 } MigrateStart;
 
 /*
@@ -767,6 +770,8 @@ static int test_migrate_start(QTestState **from, QTestState **to,
 
     dst_state = (QTestMigrationState) { };
     src_state = (QTestMigrationState) { };
+    bootfile_create(tmpfs, args->suspend_me);
+
     if (strcmp(arch, "i386") == 0 || strcmp(arch, "x86_64") == 0) {
         memory_size = "150M";
 
@@ -2980,7 +2985,9 @@ static int64_t get_limit_rate(QTestState *who)
 static QTestState *dirtylimit_start_vm(void)
 {
     QTestState *vm = NULL;
-    g_autofree gchar *
+    g_autofree gchar *cmd = NULL;
+
+    bootfile_create(tmpfs, false);
     cmd = g_strdup_printf("-accel kvm,dirty-ring-size=4096 "
                           "-name dirtylimit-test,debug-threads=on "
                           "-m 150M -smp 1 "
@@ -3329,7 +3336,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
                        g_get_tmp_dir(), err->message);
     }
     g_assert(tmpfs);
-    bootfile_create(tmpfs);
 
     module_call_init(MODULE_INIT_QOM);
 
