diff --git a/src/rp2_common/hardware_irq/irq.c b/src/rp2_common/hardware_irq/irq.c
index 9b6f5ecd1..fc3d6f12c 100644
--- a/src/rp2_common/hardware_irq/irq.c
+++ b/src/rp2_common/hardware_irq/irq.c
@@ -680,6 +680,10 @@ __weak void runtime_init_per_core_irq_priorities(void) {
     }
 #endif
 #endif
+#if !PICO_RP2040
+    // enable interrupts that might be disabled by a previous bootloader stage (guarded for RP2040 as there is no bootrom chain_image call there)
+    enable_interrupts();
+#endif
 }
 
 static uint get_user_irq_claim_index(uint irq_num) {