diff --git a/flight/CopterControl/System/pios_board.c b/flight/CopterControl/System/pios_board.c
index 9df05515a..9d8981eeb 100644
--- a/flight/CopterControl/System/pios_board.c
+++ b/flight/CopterControl/System/pios_board.c
@@ -1052,15 +1052,32 @@ void PIOS_Board_Init(void) {
 	UAVObjInitialize();
 
 	HwSettingsInitialize();
-	
-#if defined(PIOS_INCLUDE_RTC)
-	/* Initialize the real-time clock and its associated tick */
-	PIOS_RTC_Init(&pios_rtc_main_cfg);
+
+#ifndef ERASE_FLASH
+	/* Initialize watchdog as early as possible to catch faults during init */
+	PIOS_WDG_Init();
 #endif
 
 	/* Initialize the alarms library */
 	AlarmsInitialize();
 
+	/* Check for repeated boot failures */
+	PIOS_IAP_Init();
+	uint16_t boot_count = PIOS_IAP_ReadBootCount();
+	if (boot_count < 3) {
+		PIOS_IAP_WriteBootCount(++boot_count);
+		AlarmsClear(SYSTEMALARMS_ALARM_BOOTFAULT);
+	} else {
+		/* Too many failed boot attempts, force hwsettings to defaults */
+		HwSettingsSetDefaults(HwSettingsHandle(), 0);
+		AlarmsSet(SYSTEMALARMS_ALARM_BOOTFAULT, SYSTEMALARMS_ALARM_CRITICAL);
+	}
+
+#if defined(PIOS_INCLUDE_RTC)
+	/* Initialize the real-time clock and its associated tick */
+	PIOS_RTC_Init(&pios_rtc_main_cfg);
+#endif
+
 	/* Initialize the task monitor library */
 	TaskMonitorInitialize();
 
@@ -1450,7 +1467,7 @@ void PIOS_Board_Init(void) {
 	pios_rcvr_group_map[MANUALCONTROLSETTINGS_CHANNELGROUPS_GCS] = pios_gcsrcvr_rcvr_id;
 #endif	/* PIOS_INCLUDE_GCSRCVR */
 
-	/* Remap AFIO pin */
+	/* Remap AFIO pin for PB4 (Servo 5 Out)*/
 	GPIO_PinRemapConfig( GPIO_Remap_SWJ_NoJTRST, ENABLE);
 
 #ifndef PIOS_DEBUG_ENABLE_DEBUG_PINS
@@ -1471,10 +1488,6 @@ void PIOS_Board_Init(void) {
 	
 	PIOS_ADC_Init();
 	PIOS_GPIO_Init();
-	PIOS_IAP_Init();
-#ifndef ERASE_FLASH
-	PIOS_WDG_Init();
-#endif
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/flight/Modules/System/systemmod.c b/flight/Modules/System/systemmod.c
index 67701ace1..bb3496b0f 100644
--- a/flight/Modules/System/systemmod.c
+++ b/flight/Modules/System/systemmod.c
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 #include "taskinfo.h"
 #include "watchdogstatus.h"
 #include "taskmonitor.h"
+#include "pios_iap.h"
 
 
 // Private constants
@@ -137,7 +138,18 @@ static void systemTask(void *parameters)
 	portTickType lastSysTime;
 
 	/* create all modules thread */
-	MODULE_TASKCREATE_ALL
+	MODULE_TASKCREATE_ALL;
+
+	if (mallocFailed) {
+		/* We failed to malloc during task creation,
+		 * system behaviour is undefined.  Reset and let
+		 * the BootFault code recover for us.
+		 */
+		PIOS_SYS_Reset();
+	}
+
+	/* Record a successful boot */
+	PIOS_IAP_WriteBootCount(0);
 
 	// Initialize vars
 	idleCounter = 0;
diff --git a/shared/uavobjectdefinition/systemalarms.xml b/shared/uavobjectdefinition/systemalarms.xml
index 54eedc8cd..09b37bcd2 100644
--- a/shared/uavobjectdefinition/systemalarms.xml
+++ b/shared/uavobjectdefinition/systemalarms.xml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
     <object name="SystemAlarms" singleinstance="true" settings="false">
         <description>Alarms from OpenPilot to indicate failure conditions or warnings.  Set by various modules.</description>
         <field name="Alarm" units="" type="enum" options="Uninitialised,OK,Warning,Error,Critical"
-        elementnames="OutOfMemory,StackOverflow,CPUOverload,EventSystem,SDCard,Telemetry,ManualControl,Actuator,Attitude,Stabilization,Guidance,AHRSComms,Battery,FlightTime,I2C,GPS" defaultvalue="Uninitialised"/>
+        elementnames="OutOfMemory,StackOverflow,CPUOverload,EventSystem,SDCard,Telemetry,ManualControl,Actuator,Attitude,Stabilization,Guidance,AHRSComms,Battery,FlightTime,I2C,GPS,BootFault" defaultvalue="Uninitialised"/>
         <access gcs="readwrite" flight="readwrite"/>
         <telemetrygcs acked="true" updatemode="onchange" period="0"/>
         <telemetryflight acked="true" updatemode="onchange" period="0"/>