diff --git a/grub-core/Makefile.core.def b/grub-core/Makefile.core.def
index 43ed42191..65f4ef1f7 100644
--- a/grub-core/Makefile.core.def
+++ b/grub-core/Makefile.core.def
@@ -425,8 +425,14 @@ image = {
   i386_qemu_ldflags = '$(TARGET_IMG_BASE_LDOPT),$(GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_LINK_ADDR)';
   i386_qemu_ccasflags = '-DGRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_LINK_ADDR=$(GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_LINK_ADDR)';
 
-  sparc64_ieee1275_objcopyflags = '-O a.out-sunos-big';
-  sparc64_ieee1275_ldflags = ' -Wl,-Ttext=0x4000';
+  sparc64_ieee1275_objcopyflags = '-O binary';
+  /* The entry point for a.out binaries on sparc64 starts
+     at 0x4000. Since we are writing the 32 bytes long a.out
+     header in the assembly code ourselves, we need to tell
+     the linker to adjust the start of the text segment to
+     0x4000 - 0x20 = 0x3fe0.
+   */
+  sparc64_ieee1275_ldflags = ' -Wl,-Ttext=0x3fe0';
 
   objcopyflags = '-O binary';
   enable = i386_pc;
@@ -455,8 +461,15 @@ image = {
   i386_pc_ldflags = '$(TARGET_IMG_BASE_LDOPT),0x7C00';
 
   sparc64_ieee1275 = boot/sparc64/ieee1275/boot.S;
-  sparc64_ieee1275_objcopyflags = '-O a.out-sunos-big';
-  sparc64_ieee1275_ldflags = ' -Wl,-Ttext=0x4000';
+
+  sparc64_ieee1275_objcopyflags = '-O binary';
+  /* The entry point for a.out binaries on sparc64 starts
+     at 0x4000. Since we are writing the 32 bytes long a.out
+     header in the assembly code ourselves, we need to tell
+     the linker to adjust the start of the text segment to
+     0x4000 - 0x20 = 0x3fe0.
+   */
+  sparc64_ieee1275_ldflags = ' -Wl,-Ttext=0x3fe0';
   sparc64_ieee1275_cppflags = '-DCDBOOT=1';
 
   objcopyflags = '-O binary';
diff --git a/grub-core/boot/sparc64/ieee1275/boot.S b/grub-core/boot/sparc64/ieee1275/boot.S
index 9ea9b4e06..ed3aec464 100644
--- a/grub-core/boot/sparc64/ieee1275/boot.S
+++ b/grub-core/boot/sparc64/ieee1275/boot.S
@@ -21,6 +21,23 @@
 
 	.text
 	.align	4
+	/* We're writing the a.out header ourselves as newer
+	 * upstream versions of binutils no longer support
+	 * the a.out format on sparc64.
+	 *
+	 * The boot loader fits into 512 bytes with 32 bytes
+	 * used for the a.out header, hence the text segment
+	 * size is 512 - 32. There is no data segment and no
+	 * code relocation, thus those fields remain zero.
+	 */
+	.word	0x1030107                        /* magic number */
+	.word	512 - GRUB_BOOT_AOUT_HEADER_SIZE /* size of text segment */
+	.word	0                                /* size of initialized data */
+	.word	0                                /* size of uninitialized data */
+	.word	0                                /* size of symbol table || checksum */
+	.word	_start                           /* entry point */
+	.word	0                                /* size of text relocation */
+	.word	0                                /* size of data relocation */
 	.globl	_start
 _start:
 	/* OF CIF entry point arrives in %o4 */
@@ -40,10 +57,14 @@ pic_base:
 	 *
 	 * After loading in that block we will execute it by jumping to the
 	 * load address plus the size of the prepended A.OUT header (32 bytes).
+	 *
+	 * Since this assembly code includes the 32 bytes long a.out header,
+	 * we need to move the actual code entry point forward by the size
+	 * of the a.out header, i.e. += GRUB_BOOT_AOUT_HEADER_SIZE.
 	 */
-	.org GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_BOOT_DEVPATH
+	.org GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_BOOT_DEVPATH + GRUB_BOOT_AOUT_HEADER_SIZE
 boot_path:
-	.org GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_KERNEL_BYTE
+	.org GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_KERNEL_BYTE + GRUB_BOOT_AOUT_HEADER_SIZE
 boot_path_end:
 kernel_byte:		.xword (2 << 9)
 kernel_address:		.word  GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_KERNEL_ADDR
@@ -52,7 +73,7 @@ kernel_address:		.word  GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_KERNEL_ADDR
 #define boot_path_end (_start + 1024)
 #include <grub/offsets.h>
 
-	.org 8
+	.org 8 + GRUB_BOOT_AOUT_HEADER_SIZE
 kernel_byte:		.xword (2 << 9)
 kernel_size:	        .word  512
 kernel_address:		.word  GRUB_BOOT_SPARC64_IEEE1275_IMAGE_ADDRESS
diff --git a/include/grub/sparc64/ieee1275/boot.h b/include/grub/sparc64/ieee1275/boot.h
index 02d53f28e..cc5a941e3 100644
--- a/include/grub/sparc64/ieee1275/boot.h
+++ b/include/grub/sparc64/ieee1275/boot.h
@@ -46,8 +46,7 @@
 
 #define GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_KERNEL_BYTE 0x80
 
-#define GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_CODE_END \
-	(0x1fc - GRUB_BOOT_AOUT_HEADER_SIZE)
+#define GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_CODE_END 0x1fc
 
 #define GRUB_BOOT_MACHINE_KERNEL_ADDR 0x4200