diff --git a/drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/qla_mr.c b/drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/qla_mr.c
index 0aaf6a9c87d3a834f726658d33ecbc5f9e6fb011..c1df39a81b3c6dda633d53801f061e5f5cc4f6b4 100644
--- a/drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/qla_mr.c
+++ b/drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/qla_mr.c
@@ -572,12 +572,13 @@ qlafx00_soc_cpu_reset(scsi_qla_host_t *vha)
 	/* Kick in Core0 to start boot process */
 	QLAFX00_SET_HBA_SOC_REG(ha, SOC_SW_RST_CONTROL_REG_CORE0, (0xF00));
 
+	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&ha->hardware_lock, flags);
+
 	/* Wait 10secs for soft-reset to complete. */
 	for (cnt = 10; cnt; cnt--) {
 		msleep(1000);
 		barrier();
 	}
-	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&ha->hardware_lock, flags);
 }
 
 /**