diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/sun/sunvnet.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/sun/sunvnet.c
index a5871791e45243e389a9a84529c72b47ad0fec50..23c89ab5a6ada1ade365939dcd7bb28da44ca736 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/sun/sunvnet.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/sun/sunvnet.c
@@ -488,8 +488,9 @@ static int handle_mcast(struct vnet_port *port, void *msgbuf)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static void maybe_tx_wakeup(struct vnet *vp)
+static void maybe_tx_wakeup(unsigned long param)
 {
+	struct vnet *vp = (struct vnet *)param;
 	struct net_device *dev = vp->dev;
 
 	netif_tx_lock(dev);
@@ -586,8 +587,13 @@ static void vnet_event(void *arg, int event)
 			break;
 	}
 	spin_unlock(&vio->lock);
+	/* Kick off a tasklet to wake the queue.  We cannot call
+	 * maybe_tx_wakeup directly here because we could deadlock on
+	 * netif_tx_lock() with dev_watchdog()
+	 */
 	if (unlikely(tx_wakeup && err != -ECONNRESET))
-		maybe_tx_wakeup(port->vp);
+		tasklet_schedule(&port->vp->vnet_tx_wakeup);
+
 	local_irq_restore(flags);
 }
 
@@ -1070,6 +1076,7 @@ static struct vnet *vnet_new(const u64 *local_mac)
 	vp = netdev_priv(dev);
 
 	spin_lock_init(&vp->lock);
+	tasklet_init(&vp->vnet_tx_wakeup, maybe_tx_wakeup, (unsigned long)vp);
 	vp->dev = dev;
 
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&vp->port_list);
@@ -1129,6 +1136,7 @@ static void vnet_cleanup(void)
 		vp = list_first_entry(&vnet_list, struct vnet, list);
 		list_del(&vp->list);
 		dev = vp->dev;
+		tasklet_kill(&vp->vnet_tx_wakeup);
 		/* vio_unregister_driver() should have cleaned up port_list */
 		BUG_ON(!list_empty(&vp->port_list));
 		unregister_netdev(dev);
diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/sun/sunvnet.h b/drivers/net/ethernet/sun/sunvnet.h
index d347a5bf24b00d1f69e50dc78106086ae3e99eac..de5c2c64996f34c5eb76e5376a71d93b72ebf490 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/sun/sunvnet.h
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/sun/sunvnet.h
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #ifndef _SUNVNET_H
 #define _SUNVNET_H
 
+#include <linux/interrupt.h>
+
 #define DESC_NCOOKIES(entry_size)	\
 	((entry_size) - sizeof(struct vio_net_desc))
 
@@ -78,6 +80,8 @@ struct vnet {
 
 	struct list_head	list;
 	u64			local_mac;
+
+	struct tasklet_struct	vnet_tx_wakeup;
 };
 
 #endif /* _SUNVNET_H */