diff --git a/drivers/misc/mei/init.c b/drivers/misc/mei/init.c
index 33f56308ba3c9b13891413aeb708ac4550c866ef..b3f7c3e761a0dbd2300ce05b961a0aa34f412cb8 100644
--- a/drivers/misc/mei/init.c
+++ b/drivers/misc/mei/init.c
@@ -69,13 +69,13 @@ void mei_device_init(struct mei_device *dev)
 }
 
 /**
- * mei_hw_init - initializes host and fw to start work.
+ * mei_start - initializes host and fw to start work.
  *
  * @dev: the device structure
  *
  * returns 0 on success, <0 on failure.
  */
-int mei_hw_init(struct mei_device *dev)
+int mei_start(struct mei_device *dev)
 {
 	int ret = 0;
 
diff --git a/drivers/misc/mei/mei_dev.h b/drivers/misc/mei/mei_dev.h
index 091f50af18a4a05888974e006cdb12f5935dfc20..b5d66076de3d31d58f98fd787ec03bee6679e91f 100644
--- a/drivers/misc/mei/mei_dev.h
+++ b/drivers/misc/mei/mei_dev.h
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ static inline u32 mei_data2slots(size_t length)
  */
 void mei_device_init(struct mei_device *dev);
 void mei_reset(struct mei_device *dev, int interrupts);
-int mei_hw_init(struct mei_device *dev);
+int mei_start(struct mei_device *dev);
 void mei_stop(struct mei_device *dev);
 
 /*
diff --git a/drivers/misc/mei/pci-me.c b/drivers/misc/mei/pci-me.c
index 252b1fd315a88fca45f2e0c8a1d13bca3b10ebc7..985afd062adb8dda04be9f7c96d87919ec33b338 100644
--- a/drivers/misc/mei/pci-me.c
+++ b/drivers/misc/mei/pci-me.c
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ static int mei_probe(struct pci_dev *pdev, const struct pci_device_id *ent)
 		goto disable_msi;
 	}
 
-	if (mei_hw_init(dev)) {
+	if (mei_start(dev)) {
 		dev_err(&pdev->dev, "init hw failure.\n");
 		err = -ENODEV;
 		goto release_irq;