--- /dev/null
+--- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/ar9003_eeprom.c
++++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/ar9003_eeprom.c
+@@ -3260,10 +3260,20 @@ static int ar9300_eeprom_restore_interna
+ int it;
+ u16 checksum, mchecksum;
+ struct ath_common *common = ath9k_hw_common(ah);
++ struct ar9300_eeprom *eep;
+ eeprom_read_op read;
+
+- if (ath9k_hw_use_flash(ah))
+- return ar9300_eeprom_restore_flash(ah, mptr, mdata_size);
++ if (ath9k_hw_use_flash(ah)) {
++ u8 txrx;
++
++ ar9300_eeprom_restore_flash(ah, mptr, mdata_size);
++
++ /* check if eeprom contains valid data */
++ eep = (struct ar9300_eeprom *) mptr;
++ txrx = eep->baseEepHeader.txrxMask;
++ if (txrx != 0 && txrx != 0xff)
++ return 0;
++ }
+
+ word = kzalloc(2048, GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!word)