diff --git a/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c b/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c
index 4dc143eee086e918e2f9860c7c2c4e3823877610..de6655d50c37b2ce1041fbba70e0cb33cfb121d1 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c
@@ -2002,12 +2002,11 @@ int serial8250_do_startup(struct uart_port *port)
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * Finally, enable interrupts.  Note: Modem status interrupts
-	 * are set via set_termios(), which will be occurring imminently
-	 * anyway, so we don't enable them here.
+	 * Set the IER shadow for rx interrupts but defer actual interrupt
+	 * enable until after the FIFOs are enabled; otherwise, an already-
+	 * active sender can swamp the interrupt handler with "too much work".
 	 */
 	up->ier = UART_IER_RLSI | UART_IER_RDI;
-	serial_port_out(port, UART_IER, up->ier);
 
 	if (port->flags & UPF_FOURPORT) {
 		unsigned int icp;