diff --git a/drivers/net/virtio_net.c b/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
index ee7571195b10..bb6b67f6b0cc 100644
--- a/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
+++ b/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
@@ -562,7 +562,6 @@ static netdev_tx_t start_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)
 	struct virtnet_info *vi = netdev_priv(dev);
 	int capacity;
 
-again:
 	/* Free up any pending old buffers before queueing new ones. */
 	free_old_xmit_skbs(vi);
 
@@ -571,14 +570,20 @@ again:
 
 	/* This can happen with OOM and indirect buffers. */
 	if (unlikely(capacity < 0)) {
-		netif_stop_queue(dev);
-		dev_warn(&dev->dev, "Unexpected full queue\n");
-		if (unlikely(!virtqueue_enable_cb(vi->svq))) {
-			virtqueue_disable_cb(vi->svq);
-			netif_start_queue(dev);
-			goto again;
+		if (net_ratelimit()) {
+			if (likely(capacity == -ENOMEM)) {
+				dev_warn(&dev->dev,
+					 "TX queue failure: out of memory\n");
+			} else {
+				dev->stats.tx_fifo_errors++;
+				dev_warn(&dev->dev,
+					 "Unexpected TX queue failure: %d\n",
+					 capacity);
+			}
 		}
-		return NETDEV_TX_BUSY;
+		dev->stats.tx_dropped++;
+		kfree_skb(skb);
+		return NETDEV_TX_OK;
 	}
 	virtqueue_kick(vi->svq);