diff -u b/modules/field/field.module b/modules/field/field.module
--- b/modules/field/field.module
+++ b/modules/field/field.module
@@ -363,6 +363,7 @@
  * Purges some deleted Field API data, if any exists.
  */
 function field_cron() {
+  field_sync_field_status();
   $limit = variable_get('field_purge_batch_size', 10);
   field_purge_batch($limit);
 }
@@ -415,11 +416,18 @@
   }
 }
 
-
 /**
  * Implements hook_flush_caches().
  */
 function field_flush_caches() {
+  field_sync_field_status();
+  return array('cache_field');
+}
+
+/**
+ * Refreshes the 'active' and 'storage_active' columns for fields.
+ */
+function field_sync_field_status() {
   // Refresh the 'active' and 'storage_active' columns according to the current
   // set of enabled modules.
   $all_modules = system_rebuild_module_data();
@@ -438,8 +446,6 @@
     ->fields(array('storage_active' => 0))
     ->condition('storage_module', $modules, 'NOT IN')
     ->execute();
-
-  return array('cache_field');
 }
 
 /**
only in patch2:
unchanged:
--- a/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.test
+++ b/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.test
@@ -360,7 +360,6 @@ class TaxonomyVocabularyUnitTest extends TaxonomyWebTestCase {
     $this->field_name = drupal_strtolower($this->randomName() . '_field_name');
     $this->field = array('field_name' => $this->field_name, 'type' => 'text', 'cardinality' => 4);
     $this->field = field_create_field($this->field);
-    $this->field_id = $this->field['id'];
     $this->instance = array(
       'field_name' => $this->field_name,
       'entity_type' => 'taxonomy_term',
@@ -370,6 +369,7 @@ class TaxonomyVocabularyUnitTest extends TaxonomyWebTestCase {
     field_create_instance($this->instance);
 
     module_disable(array('taxonomy'));
+    drupal_flush_all_caches();
     require_once DRUPAL_ROOT . '/includes/install.inc';
     drupal_uninstall_modules(array('taxonomy'));
     module_enable(array('taxonomy'));