diff --git a/sys/dev/ic/ath.c b/sys/dev/ic/ath.c
index 1cbae2a42208..abed1acc78ab 100644
--- a/sys/dev/ic/ath.c
+++ b/sys/dev/ic/ath.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$NetBSD: ath.c,v 1.94 2007/12/13 09:04:39 dyoung Exp $	*/
+/*	$NetBSD: ath.c,v 1.95 2007/12/13 09:17:43 dyoung Exp $	*/
 
 /*-
  * Copyright (c) 2002-2005 Sam Leffler, Errno Consulting
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
 __FBSDID("$FreeBSD: src/sys/dev/ath/if_ath.c,v 1.104 2005/09/16 10:09:23 ru Exp $");
 #endif
 #ifdef __NetBSD__
-__KERNEL_RCSID(0, "$NetBSD: ath.c,v 1.94 2007/12/13 09:04:39 dyoung Exp $");
+__KERNEL_RCSID(0, "$NetBSD: ath.c,v 1.95 2007/12/13 09:17:43 dyoung Exp $");
 #endif
 
 /*
@@ -948,9 +948,6 @@ ath_init(struct ath_softc *sc)
 	DPRINTF(sc, ATH_DEBUG_ANY, "%s: if_flags 0x%x\n",
 		__func__, ifp->if_flags);
 
-	if (!device_is_active(&sc->sc_dev))
-		return EBUSY;
-
 	ATH_LOCK(sc);
 
 	if ((error = ath_enable(sc)) != 0) {