diff --git a/arch/arm/include/asm/arch-omap3/mmc_host_def.h b/arch/arm/include/asm/arch-omap3/mmc_host_def.h
index 0ba621a1b8231f29a0e050b00f786ff59a826ccf..9f2896c4b91f632bad7501e1698852bcbc0afc2a 100644
--- a/arch/arm/include/asm/arch-omap3/mmc_host_def.h
+++ b/arch/arm/include/asm/arch-omap3/mmc_host_def.h
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ typedef struct t2 {
 #define PBIASLITEPWRDNZ0		(1 << 1)
 #define PBIASSPEEDCTRL0			(1 << 2)
 #define PBIASLITEPWRDNZ1		(1 << 9)
+#define PBIASLITEVMODE0			(1 << 0)
 
 #define CTLPROGIO1SPEEDCTRL		(1 << 20)
 
diff --git a/drivers/mmc/omap_hsmmc.c b/drivers/mmc/omap_hsmmc.c
index c880cedb0addce6761aa67797bf19ed785a93031..dc725cb5b0d83428a6d8e6b65b180aa413f08c95 100644
--- a/drivers/mmc/omap_hsmmc.c
+++ b/drivers/mmc/omap_hsmmc.c
@@ -134,6 +134,10 @@ static unsigned char mmc_board_init(struct mmc *mmc)
 
 	pbias_lite = readl(&t2_base->pbias_lite);
 	pbias_lite &= ~(PBIASLITEPWRDNZ1 | PBIASLITEPWRDNZ0);
+#ifdef CONFIG_TARGET_OMAP3_CAIRO
+	/* for cairo board, we need to set up 1.8 Volt bias level on MMC1 */
+	pbias_lite &= ~PBIASLITEVMODE0;
+#endif
 	writel(pbias_lite, &t2_base->pbias_lite);
 
 	writel(pbias_lite | PBIASLITEPWRDNZ1 |