diff --git a/gl/cogl.c b/gl/cogl.c
index e41a3d4c9..f594c8546 100644
--- a/gl/cogl.c
+++ b/gl/cogl.c
@@ -840,6 +840,32 @@ cogl_setup_viewport (guint        width,
   GE( glTranslatef (0.0f, -1.0 * height, 0.0f) );
 }
 
+#ifdef HAVE_CLUTTER_OSX
+static gboolean
+really_enable_npot (void)
+{
+  /* OSX backend + ATI Radeon X1600 + NPOT texture + GL_REPEAT seems to crash
+   * http://bugzilla.openedhand.com/show_bug.cgi?id=929
+   *
+   * Temporary workaround until post 0.8 we rejig the features set up a
+   * little to allow the backend to overide.
+   */
+  const char *gl_renderer;
+  const char *env_string;
+
+  /* Regardless of hardware, allow user to decide. */
+  env_string = g_getenv ("COGL_ENABLE_NPOT");
+  if (env_string != NULL)
+    return env_string[0] == '1';
+
+  gl_renderer = (char*)glGetString (GL_RENDERER);
+  if (strstr (gl_renderer, "ATI Radeon X1600") != NULL)
+    return FALSE;
+
+  return TRUE;
+}
+#endif
+
 static void
 _cogl_features_init ()
 {
@@ -855,7 +881,10 @@ _cogl_features_init ()
 
   if (cogl_check_extension ("GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two", gl_extensions))
     {
-      flags |= COGL_FEATURE_TEXTURE_NPOT;
+#ifdef HAVE_CLUTTER_OSX
+      if (really_enable_npot ())
+#endif
+        flags |= COGL_FEATURE_TEXTURE_NPOT;
     }
   
 #ifdef GL_YCBCR_MESA