diff --git a/net/core/netpoll.c b/net/core/netpoll.c
index 47e6fb660f03..11b2a841b748 100644
--- a/net/core/netpoll.c
+++ b/net/core/netpoll.c
@@ -632,6 +632,8 @@ int __netpoll_setup(struct netpoll *np, struct net_device *ndev)
 	const struct net_device_ops *ops;
 	int err;
 
+	skb_queue_head_init(&np->skb_pool);
+
 	if (ndev->priv_flags & IFF_DISABLE_NETPOLL) {
 		np_err(np, "%s doesn't support polling, aborting\n",
 		       ndev->name);
@@ -667,6 +669,9 @@ int __netpoll_setup(struct netpoll *np, struct net_device *ndev)
 	strscpy(np->dev_name, ndev->name, IFNAMSIZ);
 	npinfo->netpoll = np;
 
+	/* fill up the skb queue */
+	refill_skbs(np);
+
 	/* last thing to do is link it to the net device structure */
 	rcu_assign_pointer(ndev->npinfo, npinfo);
 
@@ -686,8 +691,6 @@ int netpoll_setup(struct netpoll *np)
 	struct in_device *in_dev;
 	int err;
 
-	skb_queue_head_init(&np->skb_pool);
-
 	rtnl_lock();
 	if (np->dev_name[0]) {
 		struct net *net = current->nsproxy->net_ns;
@@ -787,9 +790,6 @@ put_noaddr:
 		}
 	}
 
-	/* fill up the skb queue */
-	refill_skbs(np);
-
 	err = __netpoll_setup(np, ndev);
 	if (err)
 		goto flush;