diff --git a/binutils/bfd/coff-rs6000.c b/binutils/bfd/coff-rs6000.c
index fea5f3bc5e..33e0e9567f 100644
--- a/binutils/bfd/coff-rs6000.c
+++ b/binutils/bfd/coff-rs6000.c
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ _bfd_xcoff_copy_private_bfd_data (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd)
   else
     {
       sec = coff_section_from_bfd_index (ibfd, ix->sntoc);
-      if (sec == NULL)
+      if (sec == NULL || sec->output_section == NULL)
 	ox->sntoc = 0;
       else
 	ox->sntoc = sec->output_section->target_index;
@@ -2564,8 +2564,12 @@ _bfd_xcoff_sizeof_headers (bfd *abfd,
 	 Don't try to renumber sections, just compute the upper bound.  */
       max_index = 0;
       for (s = abfd->sections; s != NULL; s = s->next)
+      {
 	if (s->index > max_index)
 	  max_index = s->index;
+      }
+      if(max_index < 32) // ###RetroPPC: apparently, the above upper bound is incorrect.
+        max_index = 32;
 
       /* Allocate the per section counters. It could be possible to use a
 	 preallocated array as the number of sections is limited on XCOFF,
diff --git a/binutils/bfd/dwarf2.c b/binutils/bfd/dwarf2.c
index 2ba36fdc52..e7ecfbd8e3 100644
--- a/binutils/bfd/dwarf2.c
+++ b/binutils/bfd/dwarf2.c
@@ -3619,6 +3619,8 @@ save_section_vma (const bfd *abfd, struct dwarf2_debug *stash)
     return FALSE;
   for (i = 0, s = abfd->sections; i < abfd->section_count; i++, s = s->next)
     {
+      if(!s)     // ###RetroPPC: apparently, section_count can be wrong?.
+        break;
       if (s->output_section != NULL)
 	stash->sec_vma[i] = s->output_section->vma + s->output_offset;
       else
diff --git a/binutils/bfd/xcofflink.c b/binutils/bfd/xcofflink.c
index 7f321ee241..067d53df46 100644
--- a/binutils/bfd/xcofflink.c
+++ b/binutils/bfd/xcofflink.c
@@ -3871,7 +3871,7 @@ bfd_xcoff_size_dynamic_sections (bfd *output_bfd,
       esym = (bfd_byte *) obj_coff_external_syms (sub);
       esymend = esym + symcount * symesz;
 
-      while (esym < esymend)
+      while (csectpp && esym < esymend)
 	{
 	  struct internal_syment sym;
 	  union internal_auxent aux;