diff --git a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-aspeed.c b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-aspeed.c
index 2e5acfeb76c81..5a416b39b8183 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-aspeed.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-aspeed.c
@@ -698,13 +698,16 @@ static int aspeed_i2c_master_xfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap,
 
 	if (time_left == 0) {
 		/*
-		 * If timed out and bus is still busy in a multi master
-		 * environment, attempt recovery at here.
+		 * In a multi-master setup, if a timeout occurs, attempt
+		 * recovery. But if the bus is idle, we still need to reset the
+		 * i2c controller to clear the remaining interrupts.
 		 */
 		if (bus->multi_master &&
 		    (readl(bus->base + ASPEED_I2C_CMD_REG) &
 		     ASPEED_I2CD_BUS_BUSY_STS))
 			aspeed_i2c_recover_bus(bus);
+		else
+			aspeed_i2c_reset(bus);
 
 		/*
 		 * If timed out and the state is still pending, drop the pending