diff --git a/README b/README
index b230fde78a..0e37b8b084 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1946,6 +1946,11 @@ Configuration Settings:
 		is useful, if some of the configured banks are only
 		optionally available.
 
+- CONFIG_FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS
+		If defined (must be an integer), print out countdown
+		digits and dots.  Recommended value: 45 (9..1) for 80
+		column displays, 15 (3..1) for 40 column displays.
+
 - CFG_RX_ETH_BUFFER:
 		Defines the number of ethernet receive buffers. On some
 		ethernet controllers it is recommended to set this value
diff --git a/drivers/mtd/cfi_flash.c b/drivers/mtd/cfi_flash.c
index 439c950cf2..f04c72d05a 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/cfi_flash.c
+++ b/drivers/mtd/cfi_flash.c
@@ -1179,6 +1179,27 @@ void flash_print_info (flash_info_t * info)
 	return;
 }
 
+/*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+ * This is used in a few places in write_buf() to show programming
+ * progress.  Making it a function is nasty because it needs to do side
+ * effect updates to digit and dots.  Repeated code is nasty too, so
+ * we define it once here.
+ */
+#ifdef CONFIG_FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS
+#define FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS(scale, dots, digit, dots_sub) \
+	dots -= dots_sub; \
+	if ((scale > 0) && (dots <= 0)) { \
+		if ((digit % 5) == 0) \
+			printf ("%d", digit / 5); \
+		else \
+			putc ('.'); \
+		digit--; \
+		dots += scale; \
+	}
+#else
+#define FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS(scale, dots, digit, dots_sub)
+#endif
+
 /*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Copy memory to flash, returns:
  * 0 - OK
@@ -1192,10 +1213,23 @@ int write_buff (flash_info_t * info, uchar * src, ulong addr, ulong cnt)
 	int aln;
 	cfiword_t cword;
 	int i, rc;
-
 #ifdef CFG_FLASH_USE_BUFFER_WRITE
 	int buffered_size;
 #endif
+#ifdef CONFIG_FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS
+	int digit = CONFIG_FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS;
+	int scale = 0;
+	int dots  = 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * Suppress if there are fewer than CONFIG_FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS writes.
+	 */
+	if (cnt >= CONFIG_FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS) {
+		scale = (int)((cnt + CONFIG_FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS - 1) /
+			CONFIG_FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS);
+	}
+#endif
+
 	/* get lower aligned address */
 	wp = (addr & ~(info->portwidth - 1));
 
@@ -1219,6 +1253,7 @@ int write_buff (flash_info_t * info, uchar * src, ulong addr, ulong cnt)
 			return rc;
 
 		wp += i;
+		FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS(scale, dots, digit, i);
 	}
 
 	/* handle the aligned part */
@@ -1248,6 +1283,7 @@ int write_buff (flash_info_t * info, uchar * src, ulong addr, ulong cnt)
 		wp += i;
 		src += i;
 		cnt -= i;
+		FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS(scale, dots, digit, i);
 	}
 #else
 	while (cnt >= info->portwidth) {
@@ -1259,8 +1295,10 @@ int write_buff (flash_info_t * info, uchar * src, ulong addr, ulong cnt)
 			return rc;
 		wp += info->portwidth;
 		cnt -= info->portwidth;
+		FLASH_SHOW_PROGRESS(scale, dots, digit, info->portwidth);
 	}
 #endif /* CFG_FLASH_USE_BUFFER_WRITE */
+
 	if (cnt == 0) {
 		return (0);
 	}