diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/sgi/ioc3-eth.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/sgi/ioc3-eth.c
index e61eb891c0f7..db6b2988e632 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/sgi/ioc3-eth.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/sgi/ioc3-eth.c
@@ -823,7 +823,6 @@ static int ioc3_close(struct net_device *dev)
 	netif_stop_queue(dev);
 
 	ioc3_stop(ip);
-	free_irq(dev->irq, dev);
 
 	ioc3_free_rx_bufs(ip);
 	ioc3_clean_tx_ring(ip);