diff --git a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-designware-core.c b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-designware-core.c
index db20a2841b75..3de549436992 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-designware-core.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-designware-core.c
@@ -583,11 +583,21 @@ i2c_dw_xfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap, struct i2c_msg msgs[], int num)
 	ret = wait_for_completion_timeout(&dev->cmd_complete, HZ);
 	if (ret == 0) {
 		dev_err(dev->dev, "controller timed out\n");
+		/* i2c_dw_init implicitly disables the adapter */
 		i2c_dw_init(dev);
 		ret = -ETIMEDOUT;
 		goto done;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * We must disable the adapter before unlocking the &dev->lock mutex
+	 * below. Otherwise the hardware might continue generating interrupts
+	 * which in turn causes a race condition with the following transfer.
+	 * Needs some more investigation if the additional interrupts are
+	 * a hardware bug or this driver doesn't handle them correctly yet.
+	 */
+	__i2c_dw_enable(dev, false);
+
 	if (dev->msg_err) {
 		ret = dev->msg_err;
 		goto done;
@@ -595,8 +605,6 @@ i2c_dw_xfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap, struct i2c_msg msgs[], int num)
 
 	/* no error */
 	if (likely(!dev->cmd_err)) {
-		/* Disable the adapter */
-		__i2c_dw_enable(dev, false);
 		ret = num;
 		goto done;
 	}