diff -r a64f74eb0d5a -r 6b8977951300 src/base/pollevent.cc
--- a/src/base/pollevent.cc	Mon Oct 07 16:06:21 2013 +0200
+++ b/src/base/pollevent.cc	Mon Oct 07 16:06:44 2013 +0200
@@ -214,4 +214,14 @@
 
     if (fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, flags) == -1)
         panic("Could not set up async IO");
+
+    // The file descriptor might already have events pending. We won't
+    // see them if they occurred before we set the FASYNC
+    // flag. Simulate a SIGIO to ensure that the FD will be polled in
+    // next iteration of the simulation loop. We could just poll it,
+    // but this is much simpler.
+    if (set) {
+        async_event = true;
+        async_io = true;
+    }
 }
diff -r a64f74eb0d5a -r 6b8977951300 src/sim/async.hh
--- a/src/sim/async.hh	Mon Oct 07 16:06:21 2013 +0200
+++ b/src/sim/async.hh	Mon Oct 07 16:06:44 2013 +0200
@@ -40,14 +40,12 @@
 /// @name Asynchronous event flags.
 /// To avoid races, signal handlers simply set these flags, which are
 /// then checked in the main event loop.  Defined in main.cc.
-/// @note See the PollQueue object (in pollevent.hh) for the use of async_io and async_alarm.
 //@{
 extern volatile bool async_event;       ///< Some asynchronous event has happened.
 extern volatile bool async_statdump;    ///< Async request to dump stats.
 extern volatile bool async_statreset;   ///< Async request to reset stats.
 extern volatile bool async_exit;        ///< Async request to exit simulator.
 extern volatile bool async_io;          ///< Async I/O request (SIGIO).
-extern volatile bool async_alarm;       ///< Async alarm event (SIGALRM).
 extern volatile bool async_exception;   ///< Python exception.
 //@}
 
diff -r a64f74eb0d5a -r 6b8977951300 src/sim/async.cc
--- a/src/sim/async.cc	Mon Oct 07 16:06:21 2013 +0200
+++ b/src/sim/async.cc	Mon Oct 07 16:06:44 2013 +0200
@@ -33,6 +33,5 @@
 volatile bool async_statreset = false;
 volatile bool async_exit = false;
 volatile bool async_io = false;
-volatile bool async_alarm = false;
 volatile bool async_exception = false;
 
diff -r a64f74eb0d5a -r 6b8977951300 src/sim/init.cc
--- a/src/sim/init.cc	Mon Oct 07 16:06:21 2013 +0200
+++ b/src/sim/init.cc	Mon Oct 07 16:06:44 2013 +0200
@@ -104,15 +104,6 @@
     async_io = true;
 }
 
-// Handle SIGALRM
-void
-alrmHandler(int sigtype)
-{
-    async_event = true;
-    async_alarm = true;
-    alarm(1);
-}
-
 static void
 installSignalHandler(int signal, void (*handler)(int sigtype))
 {
@@ -156,15 +147,6 @@
     // Install a SIGIO handler to handle asynchronous file IO. See the
     // PollQueue class.
     installSignalHandler(SIGIO, ioHandler);
-
-    // Setup an alarm handler that triggers every second. This
-    // triggers a PollQueue service just like a SIGIO. It is
-    // /probably/ used to work around a bug in the poll queue (likely
-    // a race between setting up a asynchronous IO and data becoming
-    // available), but its use isn't documented anywhere.
-    // TODO: Find out why this is needed and fig the original bug.
-    installSignalHandler(SIGALRM, alrmHandler);
-    alarm(1);
 }
 
 // The python library is totally messed up with respect to constness,
diff -r a64f74eb0d5a -r 6b8977951300 src/sim/simulate.cc
--- a/src/sim/simulate.cc	Mon Oct 07 16:06:21 2013 +0200
+++ b/src/sim/simulate.cc	Mon Oct 07 16:06:44 2013 +0200
@@ -98,9 +98,8 @@
                 exitSimLoop("user interrupt received");
             }
 
-            if (async_io || async_alarm) {
+            if (async_io) {
                 async_io = false;
-                async_alarm = false;
                 pollQueue.service();
             }