diff --git a/drivers/spi/spi-davinci.c b/drivers/spi/spi-davinci.c
index 1e24395a04f2..ca122165a3c6 100644
--- a/drivers/spi/spi-davinci.c
+++ b/drivers/spi/spi-davinci.c
@@ -655,6 +655,12 @@ static int davinci_spi_bufs(struct spi_device *spi, struct spi_transfer *t)
 		if (!rxdesc)
 			goto err_desc;
 
+		if (!t->tx_buf) {
+			/* use rx buffer as dummy tx buffer */
+			t->tx_sg.sgl = t->rx_sg.sgl;
+			t->tx_sg.nents = t->rx_sg.nents;
+		}
+
 		txdesc = dmaengine_prep_slave_sg(dspi->dma_tx,
 				t->tx_sg.sgl, t->tx_sg.nents, DMA_MEM_TO_DEV,
 				DMA_PREP_INTERRUPT | DMA_CTRL_ACK);
@@ -957,7 +963,7 @@ static int davinci_spi_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
 	master->bus_num = pdev->id;
 	master->num_chipselect = pdata->num_chipselect;
 	master->bits_per_word_mask = SPI_BPW_RANGE_MASK(2, 16);
-	master->flags = (SPI_MASTER_MUST_RX | SPI_MASTER_MUST_TX);
+	master->flags = SPI_MASTER_MUST_RX;
 	master->setup = davinci_spi_setup;
 	master->cleanup = davinci_spi_cleanup;
 	master->can_dma = davinci_spi_can_dma;