diff --git a/drivers/net/benet/be_cmds.c b/drivers/net/benet/be_cmds.c
index b57abc0c9f48ba82ac8459b85e425ef8633eaf6e..28a0eda926809a573cbd9829e9310162d3cc9054 100644
--- a/drivers/net/benet/be_cmds.c
+++ b/drivers/net/benet/be_cmds.c
@@ -243,15 +243,26 @@ static int be_POST_stage_get(struct be_adapter *adapter, u16 *stage)
 
 int be_cmd_POST(struct be_adapter *adapter)
 {
-	u16 stage, error;
+	u16 stage;
+	int status, timeout = 0;
 
-	error = be_POST_stage_get(adapter, &stage);
-	if (error || stage != POST_STAGE_ARMFW_RDY) {
-		dev_err(&adapter->pdev->dev, "POST failed.\n");
-		return -1;
-	}
+	do {
+		status = be_POST_stage_get(adapter, &stage);
+		if (status) {
+			dev_err(&adapter->pdev->dev, "POST error; stage=0x%x\n",
+				stage);
+			return -1;
+		} else if (stage != POST_STAGE_ARMFW_RDY) {
+			set_current_state(TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE);
+			schedule_timeout(2 * HZ);
+			timeout += 2;
+		} else {
+			return 0;
+		}
+	} while (timeout < 20);
 
-	return 0;
+	dev_err(&adapter->pdev->dev, "POST timeout; stage=0x%x\n", stage);
+	return -1;
 }
 
 static inline void *embedded_payload(struct be_mcc_wrb *wrb)
diff --git a/drivers/net/benet/be_main.c b/drivers/net/benet/be_main.c
index 36cb94869b018ae94289b3889681eeea2469885c..1f941f027718afd95dde07c70f26db49ab55ccde 100644
--- a/drivers/net/benet/be_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/benet/be_main.c
@@ -2058,6 +2058,10 @@ static int be_hw_up(struct be_adapter *adapter)
 	if (status)
 		return status;
 
+	status = be_cmd_reset_function(adapter);
+	if (status)
+		return status;
+
 	status = be_cmd_get_fw_ver(adapter, adapter->fw_ver);
 	if (status)
 		return status;
@@ -2111,10 +2115,6 @@ static int __devinit be_probe(struct pci_dev *pdev,
 	if (status)
 		goto free_netdev;
 
-	status = be_cmd_reset_function(adapter);
-	if (status)
-		goto ctrl_clean;
-
 	status = be_stats_init(adapter);
 	if (status)
 		goto ctrl_clean;