diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_ethtool.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_ethtool.c
index 3ce4a258f945..0ae038b9af90 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_ethtool.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_ethtool.c
@@ -342,12 +342,16 @@ static int ixgbe_set_settings(struct net_device *netdev,
 		if (old == advertised)
 			return err;
 		/* this sets the link speed and restarts auto-neg */
+		while (test_and_set_bit(__IXGBE_IN_SFP_INIT, &adapter->state))
+			usleep_range(1000, 2000);
+
 		hw->mac.autotry_restart = true;
 		err = hw->mac.ops.setup_link(hw, advertised, true);
 		if (err) {
 			e_info(probe, "setup link failed with code %d\n", err);
 			hw->mac.ops.setup_link(hw, old, true);
 		}
+		clear_bit(__IXGBE_IN_SFP_INIT, &adapter->state);
 	} else {
 		/* in this case we currently only support 10Gb/FULL */
 		u32 speed = ethtool_cmd_speed(ecmd);