diff --git a/drivers/net/xen-netback/interface.c b/drivers/net/xen-netback/interface.c
index e29e15dca86ee..f379689dde309 100644
--- a/drivers/net/xen-netback/interface.c
+++ b/drivers/net/xen-netback/interface.c
@@ -576,6 +576,9 @@ int xenvif_connect(struct xenvif_queue *queue, unsigned long tx_ring_ref,
 	init_waitqueue_head(&queue->dealloc_wq);
 	atomic_set(&queue->inflight_packets, 0);
 
+	netif_napi_add(queue->vif->dev, &queue->napi, xenvif_poll,
+			XENVIF_NAPI_WEIGHT);
+
 	if (tx_evtchn == rx_evtchn) {
 		/* feature-split-event-channels == 0 */
 		err = bind_interdomain_evtchn_to_irqhandler(
@@ -629,9 +632,6 @@ int xenvif_connect(struct xenvif_queue *queue, unsigned long tx_ring_ref,
 	wake_up_process(queue->task);
 	wake_up_process(queue->dealloc_task);
 
-	netif_napi_add(queue->vif->dev, &queue->napi, xenvif_poll,
-			XENVIF_NAPI_WEIGHT);
-
 	return 0;
 
 err_rx_unbind: