diff --git a/mythtv/configure b/mythtv/configure
index a331a4e..8b41f77 100755
--- a/mythtv/configure
+++ b/mythtv/configure
@@ -1908,7 +1908,7 @@ if enabled x86; then
 EOF
 
     # check wether EBX is available on x86
-    check_asm ebx_available '"":::"%ebx"'
+    check_asm ebx_available '"":::"%ebx"' -fPIC -DPIC
 
     # check whether binutils is new enough to compile SSSE3
     enabled ssse3 && check_asm ssse3 '"pabsw %xmm0, %xmm0"'