unregister_netdevice and b44 in 2.6.9, kernel problem?

["H. S." <greatexcalibur@yahoo.com>]

In kernel 2.6.9, on Inspiron 5160 running Sid, if I do:
#> /etc/init.d/networking stop
#> rmmod b44

I start getting:
unregister_netdevice: waiting for eth0 to become free. Usage count = 1

and this message keeps on repeating. I have to reboot the machine to get 
it working again.

What is this all about?

On the laptop, the ethernet card is:
{~}> lspci | grep -i ethernet
0000:02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation
BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
{~}> lsmod | grep b44
b44                    22756  0
mii                     5152  1 b44

->HS