diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
index e2dbe0427cdfab6e89614ec0304e29743d6aa509..50f9ab72c95f53a03962ef837d450b2190c31dc3 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ static void i40e_tx_timeout(struct net_device *netdev)
 	pf->tx_timeout_count++;
 
 	if (time_after(jiffies, (pf->tx_timeout_last_recovery + HZ*20)))
-		pf->tx_timeout_recovery_level = 0;
+		pf->tx_timeout_recovery_level = 1;
 	pf->tx_timeout_last_recovery = jiffies;
 	netdev_info(netdev, "tx_timeout recovery level %d\n",
 		    pf->tx_timeout_recovery_level);
@@ -6826,6 +6826,8 @@ static int i40e_sw_init(struct i40e_pf *pf)
 	pf->irq_pile->num_entries = pf->hw.func_caps.num_msix_vectors;
 	pf->irq_pile->search_hint = 0;
 
+	pf->tx_timeout_recovery_level = 1;
+
 	mutex_init(&pf->switch_mutex);
 
 sw_init_done: