diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb4/t4_hw.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb4/t4_hw.c
index 49bcbf16c9ca..59f5e0b40286 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb4/t4_hw.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb4/t4_hw.c
@@ -304,6 +304,12 @@ int t4_wr_mbox_meat_timeout(struct adapter *adap, int mbox, const void *cmd,
 	if (adap->pdev->error_state != pci_channel_io_normal)
 		return -EIO;
 
+	/* If we have a negative timeout, that implies that we can't sleep. */
+	if (timeout < 0) {
+		sleep_ok = false;
+		timeout = -timeout;
+	}
+
 	v = MBOWNER_G(t4_read_reg(adap, ctl_reg));
 	for (i = 0; v == MBOX_OWNER_NONE && i < 3; i++)
 		v = MBOWNER_G(t4_read_reg(adap, ctl_reg));