diff --git a/README b/README
index f2a4914..cc55274 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -2699,6 +2699,9 @@ Some configuration options can be set using Environment Variables:
 		  Useful on scripts which control the retry operation
 		  themselves.
 
+  npe_ucode	- see CONFIG_IXP4XX_NPE_EXT_UCOD
+		  if set load address for the npe microcode
+
   tftpsrcport	- If this is set, the value is used for TFTP's
 		  UDP source port.
 
diff --git a/cpu/ixp/npe/IxNpeDlImageMgr.c b/cpu/ixp/npe/IxNpeDlImageMgr.c
index c0e7349..75b42f2 100644
--- a/cpu/ixp/npe/IxNpeDlImageMgr.c
+++ b/cpu/ixp/npe/IxNpeDlImageMgr.c
@@ -140,6 +140,14 @@ static UINT32 *IxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary = (UINT32 *)CONFIG_IXP4XX_NPE_EXT_UCOD
 static UINT32 *IxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary = (UINT32 *)IxNpeMicrocode_array;
 #endif
 
+static UINT32* getIxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary(void)
+{
+	char *s;
+	if ((s = getenv("npe_ucode")) != NULL)
+		return (UINT32*) simple_strtoul(s, NULL, 16);
+	else
+		return IxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary;
+}
 
 /*
  * static function prototypes.
@@ -218,9 +226,9 @@ ixNpeDlImageMgrImageListExtract (
     IX_NPEDL_TRACE0 (IX_NPEDL_FN_ENTRY_EXIT, 
 		     "Entering ixNpeDlImageMgrImageListExtract\n");
 
-    header = (IxNpeDlImageMgrImageLibraryHeader *) IxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary;
+    header = (IxNpeDlImageMgrImageLibraryHeader *) getIxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary();
 
-    if (ixNpeDlImageMgrSignatureCheck (IxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary))
+    if (ixNpeDlImageMgrSignatureCheck (getIxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary()))
     {
 	/* for each image entry in the image header ... */
 	while (header->entry[imageCount].eohMarker !=
@@ -291,9 +299,9 @@ ixNpeDlImageMgrImageLocate (
     IX_NPEDL_TRACE0 (IX_NPEDL_FN_ENTRY_EXIT,
 		     "Entering ixNpeDlImageMgrImageLocate\n");
 
-    header = (IxNpeDlImageMgrImageLibraryHeader *) IxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary;
+    header = (IxNpeDlImageMgrImageLibraryHeader *) getIxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary();
 
-    if (ixNpeDlImageMgrSignatureCheck (IxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary))
+    if (ixNpeDlImageMgrSignatureCheck (getIxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary()))
     {
 	/* for each image entry in the image library header ... */
 	while (header->entry[imageCount].eohMarker !=
@@ -308,8 +316,9 @@ ixNpeDlImageMgrImageLocate (
 		 * get pointer to the image in the image library using offset from
 		 * 1st word in image library
 		 */
+		UINT32 *tmp=getIxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary();
 		imageOffset = header->entry[imageCount].image.offset;
-		*imagePtr = &IxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary[imageOffset];
+		*imagePtr = &tmp[imageOffset];
 		/* get the image size */
 		*imageSize = header->entry[imageCount].image.size;
 		status = IX_SUCCESS;
@@ -354,9 +363,9 @@ ixNpeDlImageMgrLatestImageExtract (IxNpeDlImageId *imageId)
     IX_NPEDL_TRACE0 (IX_NPEDL_FN_ENTRY_EXIT,
 		     "Entering ixNpeDlImageMgrLatestImageExtract\n");
 		     
-    header = (IxNpeDlImageMgrImageLibraryHeader *) IxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary;
+    header = (IxNpeDlImageMgrImageLibraryHeader *) getIxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary();
     
-    if (ixNpeDlImageMgrSignatureCheck (IxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary))
+    if (ixNpeDlImageMgrSignatureCheck (getIxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary()))
     {
 	/* for each image entry in the image library header ... */
 	while (header->entry[imageCount].eohMarker !=
@@ -633,7 +642,7 @@ ixNpeDlImageMgrImageFind (
 	    imageLibrary = ixNpeMicrocode_binaryArray;
 	}
 #else
-	imageLibrary = IxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary;
+	imageLibrary = getIxNpeMicroCodeImageLibrary();
 #endif /* IX_NPEDL_READ_MICROCODE_FROM_FILE */
     }