diff --git a/drivers/hwmon/coretemp.c b/drivers/hwmon/coretemp.c
index a9edbb4924a7..3836beade59f 100644
--- a/drivers/hwmon/coretemp.c
+++ b/drivers/hwmon/coretemp.c
@@ -568,9 +568,6 @@ static int create_core_data(struct platform_device *pdev, unsigned int cpu,
 	u64 val;
 	int err;
 
-	if (!housekeeping_cpu(cpu, HK_TYPE_MISC))
-		return 0;
-
 	tdata = init_temp_data(pdata, cpu, pkg_flag);
 	if (!tdata)
 		return -ENOMEM;
@@ -690,6 +687,14 @@ static int coretemp_cpu_online(unsigned int cpu)
 	if (!cpu_has(c, X86_FEATURE_DTHERM))
 		return -ENODEV;
 
+	/*
+	 * Keep isolated CPUs out of pdata->cpumask. Besides tracking the CPUs
+	 * available to this driver, the mask is used to select the CPU on which
+	 * to read the temperature MSRs.
+	 */
+	if (!housekeeping_cpu(cpu, HK_TYPE_MISC))
+		return 0;
+
 	pdata = platform_get_drvdata(pdev);
 	if (!pdata->hwmon_dev) {
 		struct device *hwmon;
@@ -719,8 +724,8 @@ static int coretemp_cpu_online(unsigned int cpu)
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * Check whether a thread sibling is already online. If not add the
-	 * interface for this CPU core.
+	 * Check whether a housekeeping thread sibling is already online. If
+	 * not, add the interface for this CPU core.
 	 */
 	if (!cpumask_intersects(&pdata->cpumask, topology_sibling_cpumask(cpu)))
 		coretemp_add_core(pdev, cpu, 0);
@@ -750,9 +755,9 @@ static int coretemp_cpu_offline(unsigned int cpu)
 	cpumask_clear_cpu(cpu, &pd->cpumask);
 
 	/*
-	 * If this is the last thread sibling, remove the CPU core
-	 * interface, If there is still a sibling online, transfer the
-	 * target cpu of that core interface to it.
+	 * If this is the last housekeeping thread sibling, remove the CPU core
+	 * interface. If there is still a housekeeping sibling online, transfer
+	 * the target CPU of that core interface to it.
 	 */
 	target = cpumask_any_and(&pd->cpumask, topology_sibling_cpumask(cpu));
 	if (target >= nr_cpu_ids) {
@@ -764,7 +769,8 @@ static int coretemp_cpu_offline(unsigned int cpu)
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * If all cores in this pkg are offline, remove the interface.
+	 * If all housekeeping cores in this pkg are offline, remove the
+	 * interface.
 	 */
 	tdata = get_temp_data(pd, -1);
 	if (cpumask_empty(&pd->cpumask)) {
@@ -777,7 +783,7 @@ static int coretemp_cpu_offline(unsigned int cpu)
 
 	/*
 	 * Check whether this core is the target for the package
-	 * interface. We need to assign it to some other cpu.
+	 * interface. We need to assign it to some other housekeeping CPU.
 	 */
 	if (tdata && tdata->cpu == cpu) {
 		target = cpumask_first(&pd->cpumask);