diff --git a/tests/integration/initramfs.bats b/tests/integration/initramfs.bats
index e07caec7e05..91d3a981092 100644
--- a/tests/integration/initramfs.bats
+++ b/tests/integration/initramfs.bats
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ function qemu_native() {
 	# Different distributions put qemu-kvm in different locations and with
 	# different names. Debian and Ubuntu have a "kvm" binary, while AlmaLinux
 	# has /usr/libexec/qemu-kvm.
-	local qemu_candidates=("kvm" "qemu-kvm" "/usr/libexec/qemu-kvm")
-	local qemu_binary candidate
+	local qemu_binary= qemu_candidates=("kvm" "qemu-kvm" "/usr/libexec/qemu-kvm")
+	local candidate
 	for candidate in "${qemu_candidates[@]}"; do
 		"$candidate" -help &>/dev/null || continue
 		qemu_binary="$candidate"
@@ -50,20 +50,23 @@ function qemu_native() {
 	# architecture if qemu-kvm is missing?
 	[ -n "$qemu_binary" ] || skip "could not find qemu-kvm binary"
 
-	local machine
+	local machine=
 	case "$(go env GOARCH)" in
 	386 | amd64)
+		# Try to use a slightly newer PC CPU.
 		machine="pc"
 		;;
 	arm | arm64)
+		# ARM doesn't provide a "default" machine value (because its use is so
+		# varied) so we have to specify the machine manually.
 		machine="virt"
 		;;
 	*)
 		echo "could not figure out -machine argument for qemu -- using default" >&2
 		;;
 	esac
-	local machine_args=()
-	[ -n "$machine" ] && machine_args=("-machine" "$machine")
+	local machine_args=("-cpu" "max")
+	[ -n "$machine" ] && machine_args+=("-machine" "$machine")
 
 	qemu_output="$INITRAMFS_ROOT/qemu.log"
 	sane_run --pipe --timeout=3m \