diff --git a/drivers/net/ixgb/ixgb_main.c b/drivers/net/ixgb/ixgb_main.c
index c1dde795a837722e4a50ab94503d321be6b6056d..365212b9e9524b32735f8c050ab873d288655d9f 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ixgb/ixgb_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ixgb/ixgb_main.c
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ static bool ixgb_clean_rx_irq(struct ixgb_adapter *, int *, int);
 #else
 static bool ixgb_clean_rx_irq(struct ixgb_adapter *);
 #endif
-static void ixgb_alloc_rx_buffers(struct ixgb_adapter *);
+static void ixgb_alloc_rx_buffers(struct ixgb_adapter *, int);
 
 static void ixgb_tx_timeout(struct net_device *dev);
 static void ixgb_tx_timeout_task(struct work_struct *work);
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ ixgb_up(struct ixgb_adapter *adapter)
 	ixgb_configure_tx(adapter);
 	ixgb_setup_rctl(adapter);
 	ixgb_configure_rx(adapter);
-	ixgb_alloc_rx_buffers(adapter);
+	ixgb_alloc_rx_buffers(adapter, IXGB_DESC_UNUSED(&adapter->rx_ring));
 
 	/* disable interrupts and get the hardware into a known state */
 	IXGB_WRITE_REG(&adapter->hw, IMC, 0xffffffff);
@@ -1906,6 +1906,7 @@ ixgb_clean_rx_irq(struct ixgb_adapter *adapter)
 	struct ixgb_buffer *buffer_info, *next_buffer, *next2_buffer;
 	u32 length;
 	unsigned int i, j;
+	int cleaned_count = 0;
 	bool cleaned = false;
 
 	i = rx_ring->next_to_clean;
@@ -1913,7 +1914,7 @@ ixgb_clean_rx_irq(struct ixgb_adapter *adapter)
 	buffer_info = &rx_ring->buffer_info[i];
 
 	while (rx_desc->status & IXGB_RX_DESC_STATUS_DD) {
-		struct sk_buff *skb, *next_skb;
+		struct sk_buff *skb;
 		u8 status;
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_IXGB_NAPI
@@ -1926,7 +1927,7 @@ ixgb_clean_rx_irq(struct ixgb_adapter *adapter)
 		skb = buffer_info->skb;
 		buffer_info->skb = NULL;
 
-		prefetch(skb->data);
+		prefetch(skb->data - NET_IP_ALIGN);
 
 		if (++i == rx_ring->count) i = 0;
 		next_rxd = IXGB_RX_DESC(*rx_ring, i);
@@ -1937,17 +1938,18 @@ ixgb_clean_rx_irq(struct ixgb_adapter *adapter)
 		prefetch(next2_buffer);
 
 		next_buffer = &rx_ring->buffer_info[i];
-		next_skb = next_buffer->skb;
-		prefetch(next_skb);
 
 		cleaned = true;
+		cleaned_count++;
 
 		pci_unmap_single(pdev,
 				 buffer_info->dma,
 				 buffer_info->length,
 				 PCI_DMA_FROMDEVICE);
+		buffer_info->dma = 0;
 
 		length = le16_to_cpu(rx_desc->length);
+		rx_desc->length = 0;
 
 		if (unlikely(!(status & IXGB_RX_DESC_STATUS_EOP))) {
 
@@ -2016,6 +2018,12 @@ ixgb_clean_rx_irq(struct ixgb_adapter *adapter)
 		/* clean up descriptor, might be written over by hw */
 		rx_desc->status = 0;
 
+		/* return some buffers to hardware, one at a time is too slow */
+		if (unlikely(cleaned_count >= IXGB_RX_BUFFER_WRITE)) {
+			ixgb_alloc_rx_buffers(adapter, cleaned_count);
+			cleaned_count = 0;
+		}
+
 		/* use prefetched values */
 		rx_desc = next_rxd;
 		buffer_info = next_buffer;
@@ -2023,7 +2031,9 @@ ixgb_clean_rx_irq(struct ixgb_adapter *adapter)
 
 	rx_ring->next_to_clean = i;
 
-	ixgb_alloc_rx_buffers(adapter);
+	cleaned_count = IXGB_DESC_UNUSED(rx_ring);
+	if (cleaned_count)
+		ixgb_alloc_rx_buffers(adapter, cleaned_count);
 
 	return cleaned;
 }
@@ -2034,7 +2044,7 @@ ixgb_clean_rx_irq(struct ixgb_adapter *adapter)
  **/
 
 static void
-ixgb_alloc_rx_buffers(struct ixgb_adapter *adapter)
+ixgb_alloc_rx_buffers(struct ixgb_adapter *adapter, int cleaned_count)
 {
 	struct ixgb_desc_ring *rx_ring = &adapter->rx_ring;
 	struct net_device *netdev = adapter->netdev;
@@ -2051,7 +2061,7 @@ ixgb_alloc_rx_buffers(struct ixgb_adapter *adapter)
 
 
 	/* leave three descriptors unused */
-	while (--cleancount > 2) {
+	while (--cleancount > 2 && cleaned_count--) {
 		/* recycle! its good for you */
 		skb = buffer_info->skb;
 		if (skb) {