diff --git a/src/Kconfig b/src/Kconfig
index fa60957..760fdf7 100644
--- a/src/Kconfig
+++ b/src/Kconfig
@@ -198,14 +198,6 @@
 	  Make coreboot create a table of timer-ID/timer-value pairs to
 	  allow measuring time spent at different phases of the boot process.
 
-config HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION
-	bool "Timestamp region exists for pre-cbmem timestamps"
-	default y if ARCH_ROMSTAGE_X86_32 && CACHE_AS_RAM
-	help
-	  A separate region is maintained to allow storing of timestamps before
-	  cbmem comes up. This is useful for storing timestamps across different
-	  stage boundaries.
-
 config USE_BLOBS
 	bool "Allow use of binary-only repository"
 	default n
diff --git a/src/arch/arm/armv4/bootblock_simple.c b/src/arch/arm/armv4/bootblock_simple.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 85f486e..0000000
--- a/src/arch/arm/armv4/bootblock_simple.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,47 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * This file is part of the coreboot project.
- *
- * Copyright 2010 Google Inc.
- *
- * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
- * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
- * published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of
- * the License.
- *
- * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
- * GNU General Public License for more details.
- */
-
-#include <arch/exception.h>
-#include <arch/stages.h>
-#include <bootblock_common.h>
-#include <cbfs.h>
-#include <console/console.h>
-#include <delay.h>
-#include <program_loading.h>
-#include <timestamp.h>
-
-__attribute__((weak)) void bootblock_mainboard_early_init(void) { /* no-op */ }
-__attribute__((weak)) void bootblock_soc_init(void) { /* do nothing */ }
-__attribute__((weak)) void bootblock_mainboard_init(void) { /* do nothing */ }
-
-void main(void)
-{
-	init_timer();
-	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION))
-		timestamp_init(timestamp_get());
-
-	bootblock_mainboard_early_init();
-
-	if (CONFIG_BOOTBLOCK_CONSOLE) {
-		console_init();
-		exception_init();
-	}
-
-	bootblock_soc_init();
-	bootblock_mainboard_init();
-
-	run_romstage();
-}
diff --git a/src/arch/arm/armv7/mmu.c b/src/arch/arm/armv7/mmu.c
index 8c2f78c..2cf90e7 100644
--- a/src/arch/arm/armv7/mmu.c
+++ b/src/arch/arm/armv7/mmu.c
@@ -118,11 +118,8 @@
 
 static pte_t *const ttb_buff = (void *)_ttb;
 
-/* Not all boards want to use subtables and declare them in memlayout.ld. This
- * outputs two 0x00000000 symbols if they don't, making _ttb_subtables_size 0.
- * (I would like to explicitly assign them to 0 here, but that triggers
- * https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1038 in GNU as.) */
-asm (".weak _ttb_subtables, _ettb_subtables");
+/* Not all boards want to use subtables and declare them in memlayout.ld. */
+DECLARE_OPTIONAL_REGION(ttb_subtables);
 
 static struct {
 	pte_t value;
diff --git a/src/arch/x86/car.ld b/src/arch/x86/car.ld
index f29a465..d19e613 100644
--- a/src/arch/x86/car.ld
+++ b/src/arch/x86/car.ld
@@ -42,9 +42,7 @@
 	 * backing store once cbmem comes online. Therefore, this data needs
 	 * to reside in the migrated area (between _car_data_start and
 	 * _car_data_end). */
-#if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION)
 	TIMESTAMP(., 0x100)
-#endif
 	/* _car_global_start and _car_global_end provide symbols to per-stage
 	 * variables that are not shared like the timestamp and the pre-ram
 	 * cbmem console. This is useful for clearing this area on a per-stage
diff --git a/src/include/symbols.h b/src/include/symbols.h
index 4276176..a36392f 100644
--- a/src/include/symbols.h
+++ b/src/include/symbols.h
@@ -84,4 +84,11 @@
 extern u8 _eframebuffer[];
 #define _framebuffer_size (_eframebuffer - _framebuffer)
 
+/* Put this into a .c file accessing a linker script region to mark that region
+ * as "optional". If it is defined in memlayout.ld (or anywhere else), the
+ * values from that definition will be used. If not, start, end and size will
+ * all evaluate to 0. (We can't explicitly assign the symbols to 0 in the
+ * assembly due to https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1038.) */
+#define DECLARE_OPTIONAL_REGION(name) asm (".weak _" #name ", _e" #name )
+
 #endif /* __SYMBOLS_H */
diff --git a/src/lib/bootblock.c b/src/lib/bootblock.c
index d7d0bb5..4a36a58 100644
--- a/src/lib/bootblock.c
+++ b/src/lib/bootblock.c
@@ -19,8 +19,11 @@
 #include <console/console.h>
 #include <delay.h>
 #include <program_loading.h>
+#include <symbols.h>
 #include <timestamp.h>
 
+DECLARE_OPTIONAL_REGION(timestamp);
+
 __attribute__((weak)) void bootblock_mainboard_early_init(void) { /* no-op */ }
 __attribute__((weak)) void bootblock_soc_init(void) { /* do nothing */ }
 __attribute__((weak)) void bootblock_mainboard_init(void) { /* do nothing */ }
@@ -28,7 +31,9 @@
 void main(void)
 {
 	init_timer();
-	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION))
+
+	/* Initialize timestamps if we have TIMESTAMP region in memlayout.ld. */
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_COLLECT_TIMESTAMPS) && _timestamp_size > 0)
 		timestamp_init(timestamp_get());
 
 	bootblock_mainboard_early_init();
diff --git a/src/lib/timestamp.c b/src/lib/timestamp.c
index 2850fb7..ae84c4f 100644
--- a/src/lib/timestamp.c
+++ b/src/lib/timestamp.c
@@ -38,8 +38,10 @@
 	struct timestamp_entry entries[MAX_BSS_TIMESTAMP_CACHE];
 };
 
-#if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION) && defined(__PRE_RAM__))
-#define USE_TIMESTAMP_REGION 1
+DECLARE_OPTIONAL_REGION(timestamp);
+
+#if defined(__PRE_RAM__)
+#define USE_TIMESTAMP_REGION (_timestamp_size > 0)
 #else
 #define USE_TIMESTAMP_REGION 0
 #endif
@@ -254,21 +256,30 @@
 
 	/*
 	 * There's no need to worry about the base_time fields being out of
-	 * sync because the following configurations are used/supported:
+	 * sync because only the following configurations are used/supported:
 	 *
-	 * 1. CONFIG_HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION is enabled. This
-	 *    implies CONFIG_EARLY_CBMEM_INIT so once cbmem comes
-	 *    online we sync the timestamps to the cbmem storage while
-	 *    running in romstage. In ramstage the cbmem area is
-	 *    recovered and utilized.
+	 * 1. Timestamps get initialized before ramstage, which implies
+	 *    CONFIG_EARLY_CBMEM_INIT and CBMEM initialization in romstage.
+	 *    This requires the board to define a TIMESTAMP() region in its
+	 *    memlayout.ld (default on x86). The base_time from timestamp_init()
+	 *    (usually called from bootblock.c on most non-x86 boards) persists
+	 *    in that region until it gets synced to CBMEM in romstage.
+	 *    In ramstage, the BSS cache's base_time will be 0 until the second
+	 *    sync, which will adjust the timestamps in there to the correct
+	 *    base_time (from CBMEM) with the timestamp_add_table_entry() below.
 	 *
-	 * 2. CONFIG_LATE_CBMEM_INIT (!CONFIG_EARLY_CBMEM_INIT) is
-	 *    being used. That means the only cache that exists is
-	 *    in ramstage. Once cbmem comes online in ramstage those
-	 *    values are sync'd over.
+	 * 2. Timestamps only get initialized in ramstage *and*
+	 *    CONFIG_LATE_CBMEM_INIT is set. main() will call timestamp_init()
+	 *    very early (before any timestamps get logged) to set a base_time
+	 *    in the BSS cache, which will later get synced over to CBMEM.
 	 *
-	 * Any other combinations will result in inconsistent base_time
-	 * values including bizarre timestamp values.
+	 * If you try to initialize timestamps before ramstage but don't define
+	 * a TIMESTAMP region, all operations will fail (safely), and coreboot
+	 * will behave as if timestamps only get initialized in ramstage.
+	 *
+	 * If CONFIG_EARLY_CBMEM_INIT is set but timestamps only get
+	 * initialized in ramstage, the base_time from timestamp_init() will
+	 * get ignored and all timestamps will be 0-based.
 	 */
 	for (i = 0; i < ts_cache_table->num_entries; i++) {
 		struct timestamp_entry *tse = &ts_cache_table->entries[i];
diff --git a/src/soc/broadcom/cygnus/Kconfig b/src/soc/broadcom/cygnus/Kconfig
index 8cafc4b..d4c34c9 100644
--- a/src/soc/broadcom/cygnus/Kconfig
+++ b/src/soc/broadcom/cygnus/Kconfig
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 	select GENERIC_UDELAY
 	select HAVE_MONOTONIC_TIMER
 	select HAVE_UART_SPECIAL
-	select HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION
 	select GENERIC_GPIO_LIB
 
 if SOC_BROADCOM_CYGNUS
diff --git a/src/soc/intel/braswell/Kconfig b/src/soc/intel/braswell/Kconfig
index a64505e..053aa29 100644
--- a/src/soc/intel/braswell/Kconfig
+++ b/src/soc/intel/braswell/Kconfig
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 	select COLLECT_TIMESTAMPS
 	select SUPPORT_CPU_UCODE_IN_CBFS
 	select CPU_INTEL_TURBO_NOT_PACKAGE_SCOPED
-	select HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION
 	select HAVE_MONOTONIC_TIMER
 	select HAVE_SMI_HANDLER
 	select HAVE_HARD_RESET
diff --git a/src/soc/intel/skylake/Kconfig b/src/soc/intel/skylake/Kconfig
index c0ce9ad..302b575 100644
--- a/src/soc/intel/skylake/Kconfig
+++ b/src/soc/intel/skylake/Kconfig
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 	select COLLECT_TIMESTAMPS
 	select CPU_INTEL_FIRMWARE_INTERFACE_TABLE
 	select GENERIC_GPIO_LIB
-	select HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION
 	select HAVE_HARD_RESET
 	select HAVE_INTEL_FIRMWARE
 	select HAVE_MONOTONIC_TIMER
diff --git a/src/soc/mediatek/mt8173/Kconfig b/src/soc/mediatek/mt8173/Kconfig
index d8f1116..ed1c4da 100644
--- a/src/soc/mediatek/mt8173/Kconfig
+++ b/src/soc/mediatek/mt8173/Kconfig
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 	select SPI_ATOMIC_SEQUENCING if SPI_FLASH
 	select HAVE_MONOTONIC_TIMER
 	select GENERIC_UDELAY
-	select HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION
 	select GENERIC_GPIO_LIB
 	select HAVE_HARD_RESET
 
diff --git a/src/soc/nvidia/tegra132/Kconfig b/src/soc/nvidia/tegra132/Kconfig
index 04d5783..502e7c4 100644
--- a/src/soc/nvidia/tegra132/Kconfig
+++ b/src/soc/nvidia/tegra132/Kconfig
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 	select HAVE_HARD_RESET
 	select HAVE_UART_SPECIAL
 	select GENERIC_GPIO_LIB
-	select HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION
 
 if SOC_NVIDIA_TEGRA132
 
diff --git a/src/soc/nvidia/tegra210/Kconfig b/src/soc/nvidia/tegra210/Kconfig
index 5273d81..2601c70 100644
--- a/src/soc/nvidia/tegra210/Kconfig
+++ b/src/soc/nvidia/tegra210/Kconfig
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 	select HAVE_HARD_RESET
 	select HAVE_UART_SPECIAL
 	select ARM64_USE_ARM_TRUSTED_FIRMWARE
-	select HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION
 	select GENERIC_GPIO_LIB
 
 if SOC_NVIDIA_TEGRA210
diff --git a/src/soc/qualcomm/ipq806x/Kconfig b/src/soc/qualcomm/ipq806x/Kconfig
index dd60d63..aeb59ff 100644
--- a/src/soc/qualcomm/ipq806x/Kconfig
+++ b/src/soc/qualcomm/ipq806x/Kconfig
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 	select ARCH_ROMSTAGE_ARMV7
 	select ARCH_RAMSTAGE_ARMV7
 	select BOOTBLOCK_CONSOLE
-	select HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION
 	select HAVE_UART_SPECIAL
 	select SPI_ATOMIC_SEQUENCING
 	select GENERIC_GPIO_LIB
diff --git a/src/soc/rockchip/rk3288/Kconfig b/src/soc/rockchip/rk3288/Kconfig
index 65e6dc3..0f39f75 100644
--- a/src/soc/rockchip/rk3288/Kconfig
+++ b/src/soc/rockchip/rk3288/Kconfig
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 	select ARCH_VERSTAGE_ARMV7
 	select ARCH_ROMSTAGE_ARMV7
 	select ARCH_RAMSTAGE_ARMV7
-	select HAS_PRECBMEM_TIMESTAMP_REGION
 	select HAVE_MONOTONIC_TIMER
 	select GENERIC_UDELAY
 	select HAVE_UART_SPECIAL