This paper intends to provide the whirling characteristics of an asymmetric rotor-shaft system with a non-ideal DC motor. The equations of motion have been derived in terms of system parameters such as the internal/external damping, the asymmetry and the motor voltage. By imposing the conditions that the motor input power should be balanced by the dissipated power, steadystate whirling characteristics are obtained such as the whirling amplitude, the whirling frequency and the stability diagrams. Results show that the whirling stability is affected by the internal/external damping and the asymmetry as well as the motor voltage. Also, the whirling amplitude at the steadystate is increased and the motor speed is lowered as the internal damping becomes higher or the external damping is reduced. In addition, the asymmetry causes the variation of the whirling orbit, which becomes splitted into two distinct trajectories. Finally, non-ideal characteristics of the DC motor is found to reduce the whirling motion in case of steadystate whirling with high asymmetry and high internal damping.