diff --git a/include/asm-i386/atomic.h b/include/asm-i386/atomic.h
index 22d80ece95cb..4ddce5296a78 100644
--- a/include/asm-i386/atomic.h
+++ b/include/asm-i386/atomic.h
@@ -183,6 +183,7 @@ static __inline__ int atomic_add_return(int i, atomic_t *v)
 {
 	int __i;
 #ifdef CONFIG_M386
+	unsigned long flags;
 	if(unlikely(boot_cpu_data.x86==3))
 		goto no_xadd;
 #endif
@@ -196,10 +197,10 @@ static __inline__ int atomic_add_return(int i, atomic_t *v)
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_M386
 no_xadd: /* Legacy 386 processor */
-	local_irq_disable();
+	local_irq_save(flags);
 	__i = atomic_read(v);
 	atomic_set(v, i + __i);
-	local_irq_enable();
+	local_irq_restore(flags);
 	return i + __i;
 #endif
 }