diff --git a/etc/defaults/rc.conf b/etc/defaults/rc.conf
index f90750157561..5310643afe79 100644
--- a/etc/defaults/rc.conf
+++ b/etc/defaults/rc.conf
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ pccard_beep="2"		# pccard beep type.
 pccard_ifconfig="NO"	# Specialized pccard ethernet configuration (or NO).
 pccardd_flags=""	# Additional flags for pccardd.
 pccard_conf="/etc/defaults/pccard.conf"	# pccardd(8) config file
+pccard_ether_delay=5	# Delay before trying to start dhclient in pccard_ether
 removable_interfaces=""	# Removable network interfaces for /etc/pccard_ether.
 local_startup="/usr/local/etc/rc.d /usr/X11R6/etc/rc.d"	# startup script dirs.
 script_name_sep=" "	# Change if your startup scripts' names contain spaces
diff --git a/etc/pccard_ether b/etc/pccard_ether
index d790a38fdc0a..f6a0e615e027 100755
--- a/etc/pccard_ether
+++ b/etc/pccard_ether
@@ -46,6 +46,17 @@ shift
 startstop=$1
 shift
 
+case ${pccard_ether_delay} in
+[Nn][Oo])
+	;;
+[0-9])
+	sleep ${pccard_ether_delay}
+	;;
+*)	# Default until it has had a chance to make it to /etc/defaults/rc.conf
+	sleep 5
+	;;
+esac
+
 case ${pccard_ifconfig} in
 [Nn][Oo] | '')
 	expr "${removable_interfaces}" : ".*${interface}" > /dev/null || exit 0
diff --git a/share/man/man5/rc.conf.5 b/share/man/man5/rc.conf.5
index bedbdce12118..e34f12a24fb9 100644
--- a/share/man/man5/rc.conf.5
+++ b/share/man/man5/rc.conf.5
@@ -141,6 +141,16 @@ is set to
 these are the flags to pass to the
 .Xr pccardd 8
 daemon.
+.It Va pccard_ether_delay
+.Pq Vt str
+Set the delay before starting dhclient in
+.Xr pccard_ether 8
+script.
+This defaults to 5 seconds to work around a bug in the
+.Xr ed 4
+driver which can lead to system hangs when using some newer
+.Xr ed 4
+based cards.
 .It Va removable_interfaces
 .Pq Vt str
 List of removable network interfaces to be supported by