diff --git a/drivers/staging/fsl-dpaa2/ethernet/dpaa2-eth.c b/drivers/staging/fsl-dpaa2/ethernet/dpaa2-eth.c
index f013af61c447..ac1a75042664 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/fsl-dpaa2/ethernet/dpaa2-eth.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/fsl-dpaa2/ethernet/dpaa2-eth.c
@@ -2441,7 +2441,10 @@ static int dpaa2_eth_probe(struct fsl_mc_device *dpni_dev)
 	err = fsl_mc_portal_allocate(dpni_dev, FSL_MC_IO_ATOMIC_CONTEXT_PORTAL,
 				     &priv->mc_io);
 	if (err) {
-		dev_err(dev, "MC portal allocation failed\n");
+		if (err == -ENXIO)
+			err = -EPROBE_DEFER;
+		else
+			dev_err(dev, "MC portal allocation failed\n");
 		goto err_portal_alloc;
 	}