A method of preventing packet loss when data packets are transferred from a network interface card to a host operating system of a computer. Incoming data packets received by the network interface card are processed in bursts of N data packets, where N is a maximum number of data packets that can be handled by the host operating system. At the end of each burst, a signal is sent to the host operating system that the burst constitutes all the incoming data packets. In one embodiment of the present invention, the signal, which falsely indicates that the transaction is complete, also enables the host operating system to receive another burst of the data packets. The process may be repeated until all the incoming data packets are received by the host operating system. In another embodiment of the present invention, after processing a burst of N data packets, a future hardware interrupt is scheduled and a signal falsely indicating that the burst constitutes all of the incoming data packets is sent. The future hardware interrupt, coupled with the signal, enables the host operating system to receive a stream of data packets without packet loss.