diff --git a/drivers/net/phy/phy.c b/drivers/net/phy/phy.c
index 4da993dfcfd89e38c3d1103b5853eed7397316b5..5a314edc2744bad7787d1adeda1e497754e9d8e4 100644
--- a/drivers/net/phy/phy.c
+++ b/drivers/net/phy/phy.c
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  * Author: Andy Fleming
  *
  * Copyright (c) 2004 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
- * Copyright (c) 2006  Maciej W. Rozycki
+ * Copyright (c) 2006, 2007  Maciej W. Rozycki
  *
  * This program is free software; you can redistribute  it and/or modify it
  * under  the terms of  the GNU General  Public License as published by the
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include <linux/timer.h>
 #include <linux/workqueue.h>
 
+#include <asm/atomic.h>
 #include <asm/io.h>
 #include <asm/irq.h>
 #include <asm/uaccess.h>
@@ -562,6 +563,7 @@ static irqreturn_t phy_interrupt(int irq, void *phy_dat)
 	 * queue will write the PHY to disable and clear the
 	 * interrupt, and then reenable the irq line. */
 	disable_irq_nosync(irq);
+	atomic_inc(&phydev->irq_disable);
 
 	schedule_work(&phydev->phy_queue);
 
@@ -632,6 +634,7 @@ int phy_start_interrupts(struct phy_device *phydev)
 
 	INIT_WORK(&phydev->phy_queue, phy_change);
 
+	atomic_set(&phydev->irq_disable, 0);
 	if (request_irq(phydev->irq, phy_interrupt,
 				IRQF_SHARED,
 				"phy_interrupt",
@@ -662,13 +665,22 @@ int phy_stop_interrupts(struct phy_device *phydev)
 	if (err)
 		phy_error(phydev);
 
+	free_irq(phydev->irq, phydev);
+
 	/*
-	 * Finish any pending work; we might have been scheduled to be called
-	 * from keventd ourselves, but cancel_work_sync() handles that.
+	 * Cannot call flush_scheduled_work() here as desired because
+	 * of rtnl_lock(), but we do not really care about what would
+	 * be done, except from enable_irq(), so cancel any work
+	 * possibly pending and take care of the matter below.
 	 */
 	cancel_work_sync(&phydev->phy_queue);
-
-	free_irq(phydev->irq, phydev);
+	/*
+	 * If work indeed has been cancelled, disable_irq() will have
+	 * been left unbalanced from phy_interrupt() and enable_irq()
+	 * has to be called so that other devices on the line work.
+	 */
+	while (atomic_dec_return(&phydev->irq_disable) >= 0)
+		enable_irq(phydev->irq);
 
 	return err;
 }
@@ -695,6 +707,7 @@ static void phy_change(struct work_struct *work)
 		phydev->state = PHY_CHANGELINK;
 	spin_unlock_bh(&phydev->lock);
 
+	atomic_dec(&phydev->irq_disable);
 	enable_irq(phydev->irq);
 
 	/* Reenable interrupts */
@@ -708,6 +721,7 @@ static void phy_change(struct work_struct *work)
 
 irq_enable_err:
 	disable_irq(phydev->irq);
+	atomic_inc(&phydev->irq_disable);
 phy_err:
 	phy_error(phydev);
 }
diff --git a/include/linux/phy.h b/include/linux/phy.h
index 2a659789f9ca10bcca00497dcfde170023906475..f0742b6aaa649ba49b6a9a8543bcd4083bb12b1e 100644
--- a/include/linux/phy.h
+++ b/include/linux/phy.h
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 #include <linux/timer.h>
 #include <linux/workqueue.h>
 
+#include <asm/atomic.h>
+
 #define PHY_BASIC_FEATURES	(SUPPORTED_10baseT_Half | \
 				 SUPPORTED_10baseT_Full | \
 				 SUPPORTED_100baseT_Half | \
@@ -281,6 +283,7 @@ struct phy_device {
 	/* Interrupt and Polling infrastructure */
 	struct work_struct phy_queue;
 	struct timer_list phy_timer;
+	atomic_t irq_disable;
 
 	spinlock_t lock;