diff --git a/drivers/dma/dw_dmac.c b/drivers/dma/dw_dmac.c
index 43a5329d44837c4042687d6f93436b3caf0627c1..43e2e89886ccc9e22b4d246aa04da10f6f1de27f 100644
--- a/drivers/dma/dw_dmac.c
+++ b/drivers/dma/dw_dmac.c
@@ -1030,10 +1030,11 @@ set_runtime_config(struct dma_chan *chan, struct dma_slave_config *sconfig)
 static inline void dwc_chan_pause(struct dw_dma_chan *dwc)
 {
 	u32 cfglo = channel_readl(dwc, CFG_LO);
+	unsigned int count = 20;	/* timeout iterations */
 
 	channel_writel(dwc, CFG_LO, cfglo | DWC_CFGL_CH_SUSP);
-	while (!(channel_readl(dwc, CFG_LO) & DWC_CFGL_FIFO_EMPTY))
-		cpu_relax();
+	while (!(channel_readl(dwc, CFG_LO) & DWC_CFGL_FIFO_EMPTY) && count--)
+		udelay(2);
 
 	dwc->paused = true;
 }