diff --git a/package/madwifi/patches/131-minstrel_rateidx.patch b/package/madwifi/patches/131-minstrel_rateidx.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2cec5a7f1bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/package/madwifi/patches/131-minstrel_rateidx.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+Index: madwifi-ng-r2568-20070710/ath_rate/minstrel/minstrel.c
+===================================================================
+--- madwifi-ng-r2568-20070710.orig/ath_rate/minstrel/minstrel.c	2007-08-11 02:08:15.931956005 +0200
++++ madwifi-ng-r2568-20070710/ath_rate/minstrel/minstrel.c	2007-08-11 02:09:37.572608440 +0200
+@@ -675,6 +675,12 @@
+ 		}
+ 
+ 		for (x = 0; x < ni->ni_rates.rs_nrates; x++) {
++			if (sn->rates[x].rix == 0xff) {
++				DPRINTF(sc, "%s: %s ignore bogus rix at %d\n",
++					dev_info, __func__, x);
++				continue;
++			}
++
+ 			sn->rs_rateattempts	[x] = 0;
+ 			sn->rs_thisprob		[x] = 0;
+ 			sn->rs_ratesuccess 	[x] = 0;