diff --git a/drivers/net/sky2.c b/drivers/net/sky2.c
index 301f8a6f8c081aa787d0458f63deb51b03a54cbd..4944fcc6b0761c24ee2a46af4c4143372210d8e3 100644
--- a/drivers/net/sky2.c
+++ b/drivers/net/sky2.c
@@ -1741,8 +1741,12 @@ static int sky2_xmit_frame(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)
 /*
  * Free ring elements from starting at tx_cons until "done"
  *
- * NB: the hardware will tell us about partial completion of multi-part
+ * NB:
+ *  1. The hardware will tell us about partial completion of multi-part
  *     buffers so make sure not to free skb to early.
+ *  2. This may run in parallel start_xmit because the it only
+ *     looks at the tail of the queue of FIFO (tx_cons), not
+ *     the head (tx_prod)
  */
 static void sky2_tx_complete(struct sky2_port *sky2, u16 done)
 {
@@ -1800,16 +1804,6 @@ static void sky2_tx_complete(struct sky2_port *sky2, u16 done)
 		netif_wake_queue(dev);
 }
 
-/* Cleanup all untransmitted buffers, assume transmitter not running */
-static void sky2_tx_clean(struct net_device *dev)
-{
-	struct sky2_port *sky2 = netdev_priv(dev);
-
-	netif_tx_lock_bh(dev);
-	sky2_tx_complete(sky2, sky2->tx_prod);
-	netif_tx_unlock_bh(dev);
-}
-
 static void sky2_tx_reset(struct sky2_hw *hw, unsigned port)
 {
 	/* Disable Force Sync bit and Enable Alloc bit */
@@ -1901,7 +1895,9 @@ static int sky2_down(struct net_device *dev)
 
 	sky2_tx_reset(hw, port);
 
-	sky2_tx_clean(dev);
+	/* Free any pending frames stuck in HW queue */
+	sky2_tx_complete(sky2, sky2->tx_prod);
+
 	sky2_rx_clean(sky2);
 
 	pci_free_consistent(hw->pdev, RX_LE_BYTES,
@@ -2378,11 +2374,8 @@ static inline void sky2_tx_done(struct net_device *dev, u16 last)
 {
 	struct sky2_port *sky2 = netdev_priv(dev);
 
-	if (likely(netif_running(dev) && !sky2->restarting)) {
-		netif_tx_lock(dev);
+	if (likely(netif_running(dev) && !sky2->restarting))
 		sky2_tx_complete(sky2, last);
-		netif_tx_unlock(dev);
-	}
 }
 
 static inline void sky2_skb_rx(const struct sky2_port *sky2,