diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/main.c
index 173e2c12e1c7..cf7b8da0f010 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/main.c
@@ -1193,6 +1193,12 @@ int mlx5_load_one(struct mlx5_core_dev *dev, bool boot)
 	if (err)
 		goto err_load;
 
+	if (boot) {
+		err = mlx5_devlink_register(priv_to_devlink(dev), dev->device);
+		if (err)
+			goto err_devlink_reg;
+	}
+
 	if (mlx5_device_registered(dev)) {
 		mlx5_attach_device(dev);
 	} else {
@@ -1210,6 +1216,9 @@ out:
 	return err;
 
 err_reg_dev:
+	if (boot)
+		mlx5_devlink_unregister(priv_to_devlink(dev));
+err_devlink_reg:
 	mlx5_unload(dev);
 err_load:
 	if (boot)
@@ -1347,10 +1356,6 @@ static int init_one(struct pci_dev *pdev, const struct pci_device_id *id)
 
 	request_module_nowait(MLX5_IB_MOD);
 
-	err = mlx5_devlink_register(devlink, &pdev->dev);
-	if (err)
-		goto clean_load;
-
 	err = mlx5_crdump_enable(dev);
 	if (err)
 		dev_err(&pdev->dev, "mlx5_crdump_enable failed with error code %d\n", err);
@@ -1358,9 +1363,6 @@ static int init_one(struct pci_dev *pdev, const struct pci_device_id *id)
 	pci_save_state(pdev);
 	return 0;
 
-clean_load:
-	mlx5_unload_one(dev, true);
-
 err_load_one:
 	mlx5_pci_close(dev);
 pci_init_err: