diff --git a/drivers/net/ixgb/ixgb_main.c b/drivers/net/ixgb/ixgb_main.c
index 4a0826b8f6f2bda1498f72fe5d9314ec33f07210..ff741ca110f534ffb09cc4698ea3808284b73bbf 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ixgb/ixgb_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ixgb/ixgb_main.c
@@ -471,10 +471,8 @@ ixgb_probe(struct pci_dev *pdev, const struct pci_device_id *ent)
 	if (err)
 		goto err_register;
 
-	/* we're going to reset, so assume we have no link for now */
-
+	/* carrier off reporting is important to ethtool even BEFORE open */
 	netif_carrier_off(netdev);
-	netif_stop_queue(netdev);
 
 	DPRINTK(PROBE, INFO, "Intel(R) PRO/10GbE Network Connection\n");
 	ixgb_check_options(adapter);
@@ -592,6 +590,8 @@ ixgb_open(struct net_device *netdev)
 	if (err)
 		goto err_setup_tx;
 
+	netif_carrier_off(netdev);
+
 	/* allocate receive descriptors */
 
 	err = ixgb_setup_rx_resources(adapter);
@@ -602,6 +602,8 @@ ixgb_open(struct net_device *netdev)
 	if (err)
 		goto err_up;
 
+	netif_start_queue(netdev);
+
 	return 0;
 
 err_up: