diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/fm10k/fm10k_type.h b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/fm10k/fm10k_type.h
index 318a212f0a78e..35afd711d1446 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/fm10k/fm10k_type.h
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/fm10k/fm10k_type.h
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ struct fm10k_hw;
 #define FM10K_PCIE_SRIOV_CTRL_VFARI		0x10
 
 #define FM10K_ERR_PARAM				-2
+#define FM10K_ERR_NO_RESOURCES			-3
 #define FM10K_ERR_REQUESTS_PENDING		-4
 #define FM10K_ERR_RESET_REQUESTED		-5
 #define FM10K_ERR_DMA_PENDING			-6
diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/fm10k/fm10k_vf.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/fm10k/fm10k_vf.c
index 36c8b0aa08fd2..3a18ef1cc0178 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/fm10k/fm10k_vf.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/fm10k/fm10k_vf.c
@@ -103,7 +103,12 @@ static s32 fm10k_init_hw_vf(struct fm10k_hw *hw)
 	s32 err;
 	u16 i;
 
-	/* assume we always have at least 1 queue */
+	/* verify we have at least 1 queue */
+	if (!~fm10k_read_reg(hw, FM10K_TXQCTL(0)) ||
+	    !~fm10k_read_reg(hw, FM10K_RXQCTL(0)))
+		return FM10K_ERR_NO_RESOURCES;
+
+	/* determine how many queues we have */
 	for (i = 1; tqdloc0 && (i < FM10K_MAX_QUEUES_POOL); i++) {
 		/* verify the Descriptor cache offsets are increasing */
 		tqdloc = ~fm10k_read_reg(hw, FM10K_TQDLOC(i));