diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c
index 59427c5f5622..8507ebec1266 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c
@@ -2716,6 +2716,11 @@ void mlx5e_activate_priv_channels(struct mlx5e_priv *priv)
 	mlx5e_activate_channels(&priv->channels);
 	mlx5e_qos_activate_queues(priv);
 	mlx5e_xdp_tx_enable(priv);
+
+	/* dev_watchdog() wants all TX queues to be started when the carrier is
+	 * OK, including the ones in range real_num_tx_queues..num_tx_queues-1.
+	 * Make it happy to avoid TX timeout false alarms.
+	 */
 	netif_tx_start_all_queues(priv->netdev);
 
 	if (mlx5e_is_vport_rep(priv))
@@ -2735,11 +2740,13 @@ void mlx5e_deactivate_priv_channels(struct mlx5e_priv *priv)
 	if (mlx5e_is_vport_rep(priv))
 		mlx5e_remove_sqs_fwd_rules(priv);
 
-	/* FIXME: This is a W/A only for tx timeout watch dog false alarm when
-	 * polling for inactive tx queues.
+	/* The results of ndo_select_queue are unreliable, while netdev config
+	 * is being changed (real_num_tx_queues, num_tc). Stop all queues to
+	 * prevent ndo_start_xmit from being called, so that it can assume that
+	 * the selected queue is always valid.
 	 */
-	netif_tx_stop_all_queues(priv->netdev);
 	netif_tx_disable(priv->netdev);
+
 	mlx5e_xdp_tx_disable(priv);
 	mlx5e_deactivate_channels(&priv->channels);
 }