diff --git a/drivers/net/sun8i_emac.c b/drivers/net/sun8i_emac.c
index 7144f96aa3..c567b9e082 100644
--- a/drivers/net/sun8i_emac.c
+++ b/drivers/net/sun8i_emac.c
@@ -383,16 +383,21 @@ static void rx_descs_init(struct emac_eth_dev *priv)
 	struct emac_dma_desc *desc_p;
 	u32 idx;
 
-	/* flush Rx buffers */
-	flush_dcache_range((uintptr_t)rxbuffs, (ulong)rxbuffs +
-			RX_TOTAL_BUFSIZE);
+	/*
+	 * Make sure we don't have dirty cache lines around, which could
+	 * be cleaned to DRAM *after* the MAC has already written data to it.
+	 */
+	invalidate_dcache_range((uintptr_t)desc_table_p,
+			      (uintptr_t)desc_table_p + sizeof(priv->rx_chain));
+	invalidate_dcache_range((uintptr_t)rxbuffs,
+				(uintptr_t)rxbuffs + sizeof(priv->rxbuffer));
 
 	for (idx = 0; idx < CONFIG_RX_DESCR_NUM; idx++) {
 		desc_p = &desc_table_p[idx];
 		desc_p->buf_addr = (uintptr_t)&rxbuffs[idx * CONFIG_ETH_BUFSIZE]
 			;
 		desc_p->next = (uintptr_t)&desc_table_p[idx + 1];
-		desc_p->ctl_size |= CONFIG_ETH_RXSIZE;
+		desc_p->ctl_size = CONFIG_ETH_RXSIZE;
 		desc_p->status = EMAC_DESC_OWN_DMA;
 	}