diff --git a/drivers/s390/net/qeth_core_sys.c b/drivers/s390/net/qeth_core_sys.c
index 30f61608fa22..485a335669ba 100644
--- a/drivers/s390/net/qeth_core_sys.c
+++ b/drivers/s390/net/qeth_core_sys.c
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ static ssize_t qeth_dev_recover_store(struct device *dev,
 	if (!card)
 		return -EINVAL;
 
-	if (card->state != CARD_STATE_UP)
+	if (!qeth_card_hw_is_reachable(card))
 		return -EPERM;
 
 	i = simple_strtoul(buf, &tmp, 16);