diff --git a/net/ipv4/ipconfig.c b/net/ipv4/ipconfig.c
index 5bbef4fdcb439f7c3445278dc580b3f0aaacf907..648fa1490ea7f96d1f373b4f8e6b167ed70e82e3 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/ipconfig.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/ipconfig.c
@@ -262,7 +262,8 @@ static int __init ic_open_devs(void)
 	/* wait for a carrier on at least one device */
 	start = jiffies;
 	next_msg = start + msecs_to_jiffies(CONF_CARRIER_TIMEOUT/12);
-	while (jiffies - start < msecs_to_jiffies(CONF_CARRIER_TIMEOUT)) {
+	while (time_before(jiffies, start +
+			   msecs_to_jiffies(CONF_CARRIER_TIMEOUT))) {
 		int wait, elapsed;
 
 		for_each_netdev(&init_net, dev)