diff --git a/src/liblwevent/350_fdparams.c b/src/liblwevent/350_fdparams.c
index 5baa73c..c55f750 100644
--- a/src/liblwevent/350_fdparams.c
+++ b/src/liblwevent/350_fdparams.c
@@ -56,7 +56,11 @@ int lwevent_set_events(struct lwevent* ev, int events)
     /* try the modification */
     ee.events = events;
     ee.data.ptr = ev;
-    if(TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY( epoll_ctl(lwevent_epoll_fd, EPOLL_CTL_MOD, ev->fd, &ee) )) return -1;
+    if(TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY( epoll_ctl(lwevent_epoll_fd, EPOLL_CTL_MOD, ev->fd, &ee) )) {
+        /* if we are deactivated, ENOENT will be returned, but we still want to store the events
+         * for later, so they will be used when reactivation occurs. */
+        if(errno != ENOENT) return -1;
+    }
 
     /* update structure only if it succeeded */
     ev->events = events;