diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/entry.asm b/arch/x86/kernel/entry.asm
index 8fd0e8c3..8d34dff9 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/entry.asm
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/entry.asm
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ SECTION .text
 ALIGN 4
 stublet:
 ; initialize stack pointer.
-    mov esp, default_stack_pointer
+    mov esp, [default_stack_pointer]
 ; initialize cpu features
     call cpu_init
 ; interpret multiboot information
diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/gdt.c b/arch/x86/kernel/gdt.c
index f6667c60..12631a65 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/gdt.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/gdt.c
@@ -28,10 +28,10 @@
 
 gdt_ptr_t				gp;
 static tss_t				task_state_segments[MAX_TASKS] __attribute__ ((aligned (PAGE_SIZE)));
-static unsigned char			kstacks[MAX_TASKS][KERNEL_STACK_SIZE] __attribute__ ((aligned (PAGE_SIZE), section (".data")));
+static unsigned char			kstacks[MAX_TASKS][KERNEL_STACK_SIZE] __attribute__ ((aligned (PAGE_SIZE))) = {[0 ... MAX_TASKS-1][0 ... KERNEL_STACK_SIZE-1] = 0xCD};
+uint32_t				default_stack_pointer = (uint32_t) kstacks[0] + KERNEL_STACK_SIZE - sizeof(size_t);
 // currently, our kernel has full access to the ioports
 static gdt_entry_t			gdt[GDT_ENTRIES] = {[0 ... GDT_ENTRIES-1] = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}};
-unsigned char* 				default_stack_pointer __attribute__ ((section (".data"))) = kstacks[0] + KERNEL_STACK_SIZE - sizeof(size_t);
 
 /* 
  * This is defined in entry.asm. We use this to properly reload