diff --git a/drivers/media/media-entity.c b/drivers/media/media-entity.c
index e89d85a7d31b56286a6d8c9d492b5565dc6a4d43..f2e43603d6d24f6a3c27105369187a73d61d8175 100644
--- a/drivers/media/media-entity.c
+++ b/drivers/media/media-entity.c
@@ -452,9 +452,12 @@ __must_check int media_entity_pipeline_start(struct media_entity *entity,
 	media_entity_graph_walk_start(graph, entity_err);
 
 	while ((entity_err = media_entity_graph_walk_next(graph))) {
-		entity_err->stream_count--;
-		if (entity_err->stream_count == 0)
-			entity_err->pipe = NULL;
+		/* don't let the stream_count go negative */
+		if (entity->stream_count > 0) {
+			entity_err->stream_count--;
+			if (entity_err->stream_count == 0)
+				entity_err->pipe = NULL;
+		}
 
 		/*
 		 * We haven't increased stream_count further than this
@@ -486,9 +489,12 @@ void media_entity_pipeline_stop(struct media_entity *entity)
 	media_entity_graph_walk_start(graph, entity);
 
 	while ((entity = media_entity_graph_walk_next(graph))) {
-		entity->stream_count--;
-		if (entity->stream_count == 0)
-			entity->pipe = NULL;
+		/* don't let the stream_count go negative */
+		if (entity->stream_count > 0) {
+			entity->stream_count--;
+			if (entity->stream_count == 0)
+				entity->pipe = NULL;
+		}
 	}
 
 	if (!--pipe->streaming_count)