diff --git a/irqbalance.c b/irqbalance.c
index c520c11..5eae5b6 100644
--- a/irqbalance.c
+++ b/irqbalance.c
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ gboolean scan(gpointer data __attribute__((unused)))
 
 
 	/* cope with cpu hotplug -- detected during /proc/interrupts parsing */
-	while (need_rescan || need_rebuild) {
+	while (keep_going && (need_rescan || need_rebuild)) {
 		int try_times = 0;
 
 		need_rescan = 0;