diff --git a/drivers/mailbox/mailbox-altera.c b/drivers/mailbox/mailbox-altera.c
index 17278c2571d3..7cb91413ef7f 100644
--- a/drivers/mailbox/mailbox-altera.c
+++ b/drivers/mailbox/mailbox-altera.c
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ static void altera_mbox_shutdown(struct mbox_chan *chan)
 		writel_relaxed(~0, mbox->mbox_base + MAILBOX_INTMASK_REG);
 		free_irq(mbox->irq, chan);
 	} else if (!mbox->is_sender) {
-		timer_delete_sync(&mbox->rxpoll_timer);
+		timer_shutdown_sync(&mbox->rxpoll_timer);
 	}
 }