diff --git a/example/generator/odp_generator.c b/example/generator/odp_generator.c
index ccd47f6..4bf4ac6 100644
--- a/example/generator/odp_generator.c
+++ b/example/generator/odp_generator.c
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 #define APPL_MODE_UDP    0			/**< UDP mode */
 #define APPL_MODE_PING   1			/**< ping mode */
 #define APPL_MODE_RCV    2			/**< receive mode */
+#define MAX(a, b) (((a) > (b)) ? (a) : (b))
 
 /** print appl mode */
 #define PRINT_APPL_MODE(x) printf("%s(%i)\n", #x, (x))
@@ -638,6 +639,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	odp_pktio_t *pktio;
 	odp_instance_t instance;
 	odph_odpthread_params_t thr_params;
+	odp_timer_capability_t timer_capa;
 
 	/* Init ODP before calling anything else */
 	if (odp_init_global(&instance, NULL, NULL)) {
@@ -718,7 +720,11 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	odp_pool_print(pool);
 
 	/* Create timer pool */
-	tparams.res_ns = 1 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS;
+	if (odp_timer_capability(ODP_CLOCK_CPU, &timer_capa)) {
+		EXAMPLE_ERR("Error: get timer capacity failed.\n");
+		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	}
+	tparams.res_ns = MAX(1 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS, timer_capa.res_ns);
 	tparams.min_tmo = 0;
 	tparams.max_tmo = 10000 * ODP_TIME_SEC_IN_NS;
 	tparams.num_timers = num_workers; /* One timer per worker */
diff --git a/example/timer/odp_timer_simple.c b/example/timer/odp_timer_simple.c
index 70804bb..631bbcc 100644
--- a/example/timer/odp_timer_simple.c
+++ b/example/timer/odp_timer_simple.c
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 /* ODP main header */
 #include <odp_api.h>
 
+#define MAX(a, b) (((a) > (b)) ? (a) : (b))
+
 int main(int argc ODP_UNUSED, char *argv[] ODP_UNUSED)
 {
 	odp_instance_t instance;
@@ -35,6 +37,7 @@ int main(int argc ODP_UNUSED, char *argv[] ODP_UNUSED)
 	uint64_t tick;
 	odp_timeout_t tmo;
 	int ret = 0;
+	odp_timer_capability_t timer_capa;
 
 	/*
 	 * Init ODP app
@@ -61,7 +64,11 @@ int main(int argc ODP_UNUSED, char *argv[] ODP_UNUSED)
 	/*
 	 * Create pool of timeouts
 	 */
-	tparams.res_ns = 10 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS;
+	if (odp_timer_capability(ODP_CLOCK_CPU, &timer_capa)) {
+		ret += 1;
+		goto err_tp;
+	}
+	tparams.res_ns = MAX(10 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS, timer_capa.res_ns);
 	tparams.min_tmo = 10 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS;
 	tparams.max_tmo = 1 * ODP_TIME_SEC_IN_NS;
 	tparams.num_timers = 1; /* One timer per worker */
diff --git a/example/timer/odp_timer_test.c b/example/timer/odp_timer_test.c
index 035ab2e..1403c1f 100644
--- a/example/timer/odp_timer_test.c
+++ b/example/timer/odp_timer_test.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #define MAX_WORKERS           32            /**< Max worker threads */
 #define NUM_TMOS              10000         /**< Number of timers */
 #define WAIT_NUM	      10    /**< Max tries to rx last tmo per worker */
+#define MAX(a, b) (((a) > (b)) ? (a) : (b))
 
 
 /** Test arguments */
@@ -259,6 +260,7 @@ static void parse_args(int argc, char *argv[], test_args_t *args)
 {
 	int opt;
 	int long_index;
+	odp_timer_capability_t timer_capa;
 
 	static const struct option longopts[] = {
 		{"count",      required_argument, NULL, 'c'},
@@ -277,8 +279,10 @@ static void parse_args(int argc, char *argv[], test_args_t *args)
 	odph_parse_options(argc, argv, shortopts, longopts);
 
 	/* defaults */
+	odp_timer_capability(ODP_CLOCK_CPU, &timer_capa);
+
 	args->cpu_count     = 0; /* all CPU's */
-	args->resolution_us = 10000;
+	args->resolution_us = MAX(10000, timer_capa.res_ns/ODP_TIME_USEC_IN_NS);
 	args->min_us        = 0;
 	args->max_us        = 10000000;
 	args->period_us     = 1000000;
diff --git a/platform/linux-generic/odp_timer.c b/platform/linux-generic/odp_timer.c
index 53fec08..3ec7e0a 100644
--- a/platform/linux-generic/odp_timer.c
+++ b/platform/linux-generic/odp_timer.c
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ static _odp_atomic_flag_t locks[NUM_LOCKS]; /* Multiple locks per cache line! */
 #define IDX2LOCK(idx) (&locks[(idx) % NUM_LOCKS])
 #endif
 
+/* Timer resolution in nanoseconds */
+static uint64_t timer_res;
+
 /******************************************************************************
  * Translation between timeout buffer and timeout header
  *****************************************************************************/
@@ -188,6 +191,7 @@ typedef struct odp_timer_pool_s {
 
 #define MAX_TIMER_POOLS 255 /* Leave one for ODP_TIMER_INVALID */
 #define INDEX_BITS 24
+#define TIMER_RES_TEST_LOOP_COUNT 10
 static odp_atomic_u32_t num_timer_pools;
 static odp_timer_pool *timer_pool[MAX_TIMER_POOLS];
 
@@ -738,6 +742,80 @@ static void *timer_thread(void *arg)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
+/* Get the max timer resolution without overrun and fill in timer_res variable.
+ *
+ * Set timer's interval with candidate resolutions to get the max resolution
+ * that the timer would not be overrun.
+ * The candidate resolution value is from 1ms to 100us, 10us...1ns etc.
+ */
+static int timer_res_init(void)
+{
+	struct sigevent sigev;
+	timer_t timerid;
+	uint64_t res, sec, nsec;
+	struct itimerspec ispec;
+	sigset_t sigset;
+	siginfo_t si;
+	int loop_cnt;
+	struct timespec tmo;
+
+	sigev.sigev_notify = SIGEV_THREAD_ID;
+	sigev._sigev_un._tid = (pid_t)syscall(SYS_gettid);
+	sigev.sigev_signo = SIGUSR1;
+
+	/* Create timer */
+	if (timer_create(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &sigev, &timerid))
+		ODP_ABORT("timer_create() returned error %s\n",
+			  strerror(errno));
+
+	/* Timer resolution start from 1ms */
+	res = ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS;
+	/* Set initial value of timer_res */
+	timer_res = res;
+	sigemptyset(&sigset);
+	/* Add SIGUSR1 to sigset */
+	sigaddset(&sigset, SIGUSR1);
+	sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, &sigset, NULL);
+
+	while(res > 0) {
+		/* Loop for 10 times to test the result */
+		loop_cnt = TIMER_RES_TEST_LOOP_COUNT;
+		sec  = res / ODP_TIME_SEC_IN_NS;
+		nsec = res - sec * ODP_TIME_SEC_IN_NS;
+
+		memset(&ispec, 0, sizeof(ispec));
+		ispec.it_interval.tv_sec  = (time_t)sec;
+		ispec.it_interval.tv_nsec = (long)nsec;
+		ispec.it_value.tv_sec     = (time_t)sec;
+		ispec.it_value.tv_nsec    = (long)nsec;
+
+		if (timer_settime(timerid, 0, &ispec, NULL))
+			ODP_ABORT("timer_settime() returned error %s\n",
+				  strerror(errno));
+		/* Set signal wait timeout to 10*res */
+		tmo.tv_sec = 0;
+		tmo.tv_nsec = res * 10;
+		while (loop_cnt--) {
+			if (sigtimedwait(&sigset, &si, &tmo) > 0) {
+				if(timer_getoverrun(timerid))
+					/* overrun at this resolution, goto the end */
+					goto timer_res_init_done;
+			}
+		}
+		/* Set timer_res */
+		timer_res = res;
+		/* Test the next timer resolution candidate */
+		res /= 10;
+	}
+timer_res_init_done:
+	if (timer_delete(timerid) != 0)
+		ODP_ABORT("timer_delete() returned error %s\n",
+			  strerror(errno));
+	sigemptyset(&sigset);
+	sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, &sigset, NULL);
+	return 0;
+}
+
 static void itimer_init(odp_timer_pool *tp)
 {
 	struct sigevent   sigev;
@@ -795,6 +873,18 @@ static void itimer_fini(odp_timer_pool *tp)
  * Some parameter checks and error messages
  * No modificatios of internal state
  *****************************************************************************/
+int odp_timer_capability(odp_timer_clk_src_t clk_src, odp_timer_capability_t *capa)
+{
+	int ret = 0;
+	if (clk_src == ODP_CLOCK_CPU)
+		capa->res_ns = timer_res;
+	else {
+		ODP_ERR("ODP timer system doesn't support external clock source currently\n");
+		ret = -1;
+	}
+	return ret;
+}
+
 odp_timer_pool_t
 odp_timer_pool_create(const char *name,
 		      const odp_timer_pool_param_t *param)
@@ -1003,6 +1093,8 @@ int odp_timer_init_global(void)
 #endif
 	odp_atomic_init_u32(&num_timer_pools, 0);
 
+	timer_res_init();
+
 	block_sigalarm();
 
 	return 0;
diff --git a/test/common_plat/validation/api/timer/timer.c b/test/common_plat/validation/api/timer/timer.c
index 1945afa..326d739 100644
--- a/test/common_plat/validation/api/timer/timer.c
+++ b/test/common_plat/validation/api/timer/timer.c
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 #include "test_debug.h"
 #include "timer.h"
 
+#define MAX(a, b) (((a) > (b)) ? (a) : (b))
+
 /** @private Timeout range in milliseconds (ms) */
 #define RANGE_MS 2000
 
@@ -140,6 +142,7 @@ void timer_test_odp_timer_cancel(void)
 	odp_timeout_t tmo;
 	odp_timer_set_t rc;
 	uint64_t tick;
+	odp_timer_capability_t timer_capa;
 
 	odp_pool_param_init(&params);
 	params.type    = ODP_POOL_TIMEOUT;
@@ -150,7 +153,10 @@ void timer_test_odp_timer_cancel(void)
 	if (pool == ODP_POOL_INVALID)
 		CU_FAIL_FATAL("Timeout pool create failed");
 
-	tparam.res_ns     = 100 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS;
+	if (odp_timer_capability(ODP_CLOCK_CPU, &timer_capa))
+		CU_FAIL_FATAL("Get timer capability failed")
+
+	tparam.res_ns     = MAX(100 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS, timer_capa.res_ns);
 	tparam.min_tmo    = 1   * ODP_TIME_SEC_IN_NS;
 	tparam.max_tmo    = 10  * ODP_TIME_SEC_IN_NS;
 	tparam.num_timers = 1;
@@ -480,6 +486,7 @@ void timer_test_odp_timer_all(void)
 	uint64_t ns;
 	uint64_t t2;
 	pthrd_arg thrdarg;
+	odp_timer_capability_t timer_capa;
 
 	/* Reserve at least one core for running other processes so the timer
 	 * test hopefully can run undisturbed and thus get better timing
@@ -505,12 +512,15 @@ void timer_test_odp_timer_all(void)
 
 #define NAME "timer_pool"
 #define RES (10 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS / 3)
-#define MIN (10 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS / 3)
-#define MAX (1000000 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS)
+#define MIN_TMO (10 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS / 3)
+#define MAX_TMO (1000000 * ODP_TIME_MSEC_IN_NS)
 	/* Create a timer pool */
-	tparam.res_ns = RES;
-	tparam.min_tmo = MIN;
-	tparam.max_tmo = MAX;
+	if (odp_timer_capability(ODP_CLOCK_CPU, &timer_capa))
+		CU_FAIL("Error: get timer capacity failed.\n");
+
+	tparam.res_ns = MAX(RES, timer_capa.res_ns);
+	tparam.min_tmo = MIN_TMO;
+	tparam.max_tmo = MAX_TMO;
 	tparam.num_timers = num_workers * NTIMERS;
 	tparam.priv = 0;
 	tparam.clk_src = ODP_CLOCK_CPU;
@@ -524,9 +534,9 @@ void timer_test_odp_timer_all(void)
 	if (odp_timer_pool_info(tp, &tpinfo) != 0)
 		CU_FAIL("odp_timer_pool_info");
 	CU_ASSERT(strcmp(tpinfo.name, NAME) == 0);
-	CU_ASSERT(tpinfo.param.res_ns == RES);
-	CU_ASSERT(tpinfo.param.min_tmo == MIN);
-	CU_ASSERT(tpinfo.param.max_tmo == MAX);
+	CU_ASSERT(tpinfo.param.res_ns == MAX(RES, timer_capa.res_ns));
+	CU_ASSERT(tpinfo.param.min_tmo == MIN_TMO);
+	CU_ASSERT(tpinfo.param.max_tmo == MAX_TMO);
 	CU_ASSERT(strcmp(tpinfo.name, NAME) == 0);
 
 	LOG_DBG("Timer pool handle: %" PRIu64 "\n", odp_timer_pool_to_u64(tp));
