diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 2594d6e29..686994f8f 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ linux-2.6 (2.6.31~rc7-1~experimental.1) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
   * dvb-usb-af9005: remove firmware and disable
   * Add warning on upgrade to a new upstream version where the system
     appears to be missing necessary firmware files (closes: #541702)
+  * qla1280: Release spinlock when requesting firmware (closes: #543244)
 
   [ Martin Michlmayr ]
   * [armel/orion5x, armel/kirkwood] Set GPIO_SYSFS=y since these
diff --git a/debian/patches/bugfix/all/drivers-scsi-qla1280-request-firmware-unlocked.patch b/debian/patches/bugfix/all/drivers-scsi-qla1280-request-firmware-unlocked.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..85d9bed27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/patches/bugfix/all/drivers-scsi-qla1280-request-firmware-unlocked.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+commit 480c1e36532fc2783834d9582a11fbf1d493af42
+Author: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
+Date:   Sun Aug 16 03:42:24 2009 +0100
+
+    qla1280: Drop host_lock while requesting firmware
+    
+    request_firmware() may sleep and it appears to be safe to release the
+    spinlock here.
+
+diff --git a/drivers/scsi/qla1280.c b/drivers/scsi/qla1280.c
+index 5defe5e..97cbf12 100644
+--- a/drivers/scsi/qla1280.c
++++ b/drivers/scsi/qla1280.c
+@@ -1642,8 +1642,10 @@ qla1280_load_firmware_pio(struct scsi_qla_host *ha)
+ 	uint16_t mb[MAILBOX_REGISTER_COUNT], i;
+ 	int err;
+ 
++	spin_unlock_irq(ha->host->host_lock);
+ 	err = request_firmware(&fw, ql1280_board_tbl[ha->devnum].fwname,
+ 			       &ha->pdev->dev);
++	spin_lock_irq(ha->host->host_lock);
+ 	if (err) {
+ 		printk(KERN_ERR "Failed to load image \"%s\" err %d\n",
+ 		       ql1280_board_tbl[ha->devnum].fwname, err);
+@@ -1701,8 +1703,10 @@ qla1280_load_firmware_dma(struct scsi_qla_host *ha)
+ 		return -ENOMEM;
+ #endif
+ 
++	spin_unlock_irq(ha->host->host_lock);
+ 	err = request_firmware(&fw, ql1280_board_tbl[ha->devnum].fwname,
+ 			       &ha->pdev->dev);
++	spin_lock_irq(ha->host->host_lock);
+ 	if (err) {
+ 		printk(KERN_ERR "Failed to load image \"%s\" err %d\n",
+ 		       ql1280_board_tbl[ha->devnum].fwname, err);
diff --git a/debian/patches/series/base b/debian/patches/series/base
index 33053be11..abace57c2 100644
--- a/debian/patches/series/base
+++ b/debian/patches/series/base
@@ -34,3 +34,4 @@
 + features/arm/openrd-machtype.patch
 + features/arm/openrd.patch
 + features/arm/openrd-sata.patch
++ bugfix/all/drivers-scsi-qla1280-request-firmware-unlocked.patch