diff --git a/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe_ethtool.c b/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe_ethtool.c
index 6cf1c71ed7f166df780c54d95ab58bd415d4b33d..bd7524e4a00c353b5c330e6bacd52f02f70d82ee 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe_ethtool.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe_ethtool.c
@@ -1595,6 +1595,13 @@ static int ixgbe_setup_loopback_test(struct ixgbe_adapter *adapter)
 	struct ixgbe_hw *hw = &adapter->hw;
 	u32 reg_data;
 
+	/* X540 needs to set the MACC.FLU bit to force link up */
+	if (adapter->hw.mac.type == ixgbe_mac_X540) {
+		reg_data = IXGBE_READ_REG(&adapter->hw, IXGBE_MACC);
+		reg_data |= IXGBE_MACC_FLU;
+		IXGBE_WRITE_REG(&adapter->hw, IXGBE_MACC, reg_data);
+	}
+
 	/* right now we only support MAC loopback in the driver */
 	reg_data = IXGBE_READ_REG(&adapter->hw, IXGBE_HLREG0);
 	/* Setup MAC loopback */