diff --git a/configs/vexpress_aemv8a_semi_defconfig b/configs/vexpress_aemv8a_semi_defconfig
index b92e87f..3f4ff02 100644
--- a/configs/vexpress_aemv8a_semi_defconfig
+++ b/configs/vexpress_aemv8a_semi_defconfig
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 CONFIG_DISTRO_DEFAULTS=y
 CONFIG_ENV_IS_IN_FLASH=y
 CONFIG_BOOTDELAY=1
+CONFIG_USE_BOOTARGS=y
+CONFIG_BOOTARGS="console=ttyAMA0 earlyprintk=pl011,0x1c090000 debug user_debug=31 loglevel=9"
 # CONFIG_DISPLAY_CPUINFO is not set
 # CONFIG_DISPLAY_BOARDINFO is not set
 CONFIG_SYS_PROMPT="VExpress64# "