diff --git a/common/console.c b/common/console.c
index 3499e70..99f1724 100755
--- a/common/console.c
+++ b/common/console.c
@@ -249,9 +249,18 @@
 /* test if ctrl-c was pressed */
 static int ctrlc_disabled = 0;	/* see disable_ctrl() */
 static int ctrlc_was_pressed = 0;
+static int ctrlc_ignore = 1;
+
+#ifdef CONFIG_SYS_CTRLC_IGNORE
+int ignore_ctrlc(int ignore)
+{
+       ctrlc_ignore = ignore;
+}
+#endif
+
 int ctrlc (void)
 {
-	if (!ctrlc_disabled && gd->have_console) {
+	if (!ctrlc_ignore && !ctrlc_disabled && gd->have_console) {
 		if (tstc ()) {
 			switch (getc ()) {
 			case 0x03:		/* ^C - Control C */
diff --git a/common/main.c b/common/main.c
index 45a4d26..8bfebae 100755
--- a/common/main.c
+++ b/common/main.c
@@ -371,6 +371,10 @@
 	install_auto_complete();
 #endif
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_SYS_CTRLC_IGNORE
+	ignore_ctrlc(1);
+#endif
+
 #ifdef CONFIG_PREBOOT
 	if ((p = getenv ("preboot")) != NULL) {
 # ifdef CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_KEYED
diff --git a/include/953x.h b/include/953x.h
index 2fa46ec..3fd411e 100755
--- a/include/953x.h
+++ b/include/953x.h
@@ -3489,7 +3489,8 @@
 
 #define CONFIG_MIPS32		1	/* MIPS32 CPU core	*/
 
-#define CONFIG_BOOTDELAY	2	/* autoboot after 4 seconds	*/
+#define CONFIG_BOOTDELAY	0	/* autoboot w/o delay	*/
+#define CONFIG_SYS_CTRLC_IGNORE	1	/* shutdown ctrl-c backdoor to enter interactive mode */
 
 #define CONFIG_BAUDRATE		115200
 #define CFG_BAUDRATE_TABLE	{115200}
diff --git a/include/common.h b/include/common.h
index f0c1eac..1cf84e4 100755
--- a/include/common.h
+++ b/include/common.h
@@ -578,6 +578,9 @@
 int	had_ctrlc (void);	/* have we had a Control-C since last clear? */
 void	clear_ctrlc (void);	/* clear the Control-C condition */
 int	disable_ctrlc (int);	/* 1 to disable, 0 to enable Control-C detect */
+#ifdef CONFIG_SYS_CTRLC_IGNORE
+int	ignore_ctrlc(int);	/* 1 to ignore ctlr-c handling at all, 0 otherwise */
+#endif
 
 /*
  * STDIO based functions (can always be used)