diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/gro.c b/tools/testing/selftests/net/gro.c
index b2184847e388..d5824eadea10 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/net/gro.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/gro.c
@@ -1318,11 +1318,13 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	read_MAC(src_mac, smac);
 	read_MAC(dst_mac, dmac);
 
-	if (tx_socket)
+	if (tx_socket) {
 		gro_sender();
-	else
+	} else {
+		/* Only the receiver exit status determines test success. */
 		gro_receiver();
+		fprintf(stderr, "Gro::%s test passed.\n", testname);
+	}
 
-	fprintf(stderr, "Gro::%s test passed.\n", testname);
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/gro.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/net/gro.sh
index 02c21ff4ca81..9e3f186bc2a1 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/net/gro.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/gro.sh
@@ -18,10 +18,10 @@ run_test() {
   "--smac" "${CLIENT_MAC}" "--test" "${test}" "--verbose" )
 
   setup_ns
-  # Each test is run 3 times to deflake, because given the receive timing,
+  # Each test is run 6 times to deflake, because given the receive timing,
   # not all packets that should coalesce will be considered in the same flow
   # on every try.
-  for tries in {1..3}; do
+  for tries in {1..6}; do
     # Actual test starts here
     ip netns exec $server_ns ./gro "${ARGS[@]}" "--rx" "--iface" "server" \
       1>>log.txt &
@@ -100,5 +100,6 @@ trap cleanup EXIT
 if [[ "${test}" == "all" ]]; then
   run_all_tests
 else
-  run_test "${proto}" "${test}"
+  exit_code=$(run_test "${proto}" "${test}")
+  exit $exit_code
 fi;
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/setup_veth.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/net/setup_veth.sh
index 1f78a87f6f37..eb3182066d12 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/net/setup_veth.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/setup_veth.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ setup_veth_ns() {
 	local -r ns_mac="$4"
 
 	[[ -e /var/run/netns/"${ns_name}" ]] || ip netns add "${ns_name}"
-	echo 1000000 > "/sys/class/net/${ns_dev}/gro_flush_timeout"
+	echo 100000 > "/sys/class/net/${ns_dev}/gro_flush_timeout"
+	echo 1 > "/sys/class/net/${ns_dev}/napi_defer_hard_irqs"
 	ip link set dev "${ns_dev}" netns "${ns_name}" mtu 65535
 	ip -netns "${ns_name}" link set dev "${ns_dev}" up