diff --git a/arch/arm/dts/rk3399-u-boot.dtsi b/arch/arm/dts/rk3399-u-boot.dtsi
index e677ae678d..3423b882c4 100644
--- a/arch/arm/dts/rk3399-u-boot.dtsi
+++ b/arch/arm/dts/rk3399-u-boot.dtsi
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@
 &sdhci {
 	max-frequency = <200000000>;
 	bootph-all;
+	u-boot,spl-fifo-mode;
 };
 
 &sdmmc {
diff --git a/arch/arm/dts/rk3588s-u-boot.dtsi b/arch/arm/dts/rk3588s-u-boot.dtsi
index cd7e6cb50e..922cae3f09 100644
--- a/arch/arm/dts/rk3588s-u-boot.dtsi
+++ b/arch/arm/dts/rk3588s-u-boot.dtsi
@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@
 
 &sdhci {
 	bootph-pre-ram;
+	u-boot,spl-fifo-mode;
 };
 
 &uart2 {
diff --git a/configs/rock5b-rk3588_defconfig b/configs/rock5b-rk3588_defconfig
index c57de5a5be..fc76d9347d 100644
--- a/configs/rock5b-rk3588_defconfig
+++ b/configs/rock5b-rk3588_defconfig
@@ -60,7 +60,6 @@ CONFIG_MMC_DW=y
 CONFIG_MMC_DW_ROCKCHIP=y
 CONFIG_MMC_SDHCI=y
 CONFIG_MMC_SDHCI_SDMA=y
-# CONFIG_SPL_MMC_SDHCI_SDMA is not set
 CONFIG_MMC_SDHCI_ROCKCHIP=y
 CONFIG_ETH_DESIGNWARE=y
 CONFIG_GMAC_ROCKCHIP=y
diff --git a/drivers/mmc/rockchip_sdhci.c b/drivers/mmc/rockchip_sdhci.c
index 8e4a158049..285332d9f4 100644
--- a/drivers/mmc/rockchip_sdhci.c
+++ b/drivers/mmc/rockchip_sdhci.c
@@ -589,6 +589,14 @@ static int rockchip_sdhci_probe(struct udevice *dev)
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
+	/*
+	 * Disable use of DMA and force use of PIO mode in SPL to fix an issue
+	 * where loading part of TF-A into SRAM using DMA silently fails.
+	 */
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_SPL_BUILD) &&
+	    dev_read_bool(dev, "u-boot,spl-fifo-mode"))
+		host->flags &= ~USE_DMA;
+
 	/*
 	 * Reading more than 4 blocks with a single CMD18 command in PIO mode
 	 * triggers Data End Bit Error on RK3568 and RK3588. Limit to reading