diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40evf/i40evf_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40evf/i40evf_main.c
index 7b2a4eba92e2..0b23bf6d7873 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40evf/i40evf_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40evf/i40evf_main.c
@@ -1796,7 +1796,11 @@ static void i40evf_disable_vf(struct i40evf_adapter *adapter)
 
 	adapter->flags |= I40EVF_FLAG_PF_COMMS_FAILED;
 
-	if (netif_running(adapter->netdev)) {
+	/* We don't use netif_running() because it may be true prior to
+	 * ndo_open() returning, so we can't assume it means all our open
+	 * tasks have finished, since we're not holding the rtnl_lock here.
+	 */
+	if (adapter->state == __I40EVF_RUNNING) {
 		set_bit(__I40E_VSI_DOWN, adapter->vsi.state);
 		netif_carrier_off(adapter->netdev);
 		netif_tx_disable(adapter->netdev);
@@ -1854,6 +1858,7 @@ static void i40evf_reset_task(struct work_struct *work)
 	struct i40evf_mac_filter *f;
 	u32 reg_val;
 	int i = 0, err;
+	bool running;
 
 	while (test_and_set_bit(__I40EVF_IN_CLIENT_TASK,
 				&adapter->crit_section))
@@ -1913,7 +1918,13 @@ static void i40evf_reset_task(struct work_struct *work)
 	}
 
 continue_reset:
-	if (netif_running(netdev)) {
+	/* We don't use netif_running() because it may be true prior to
+	 * ndo_open() returning, so we can't assume it means all our open
+	 * tasks have finished, since we're not holding the rtnl_lock here.
+	 */
+	running = (adapter->state == __I40EVF_RUNNING);
+
+	if (running) {
 		netif_carrier_off(netdev);
 		netif_tx_stop_all_queues(netdev);
 		adapter->link_up = false;
@@ -1964,7 +1975,10 @@ continue_reset:
 
 	mod_timer(&adapter->watchdog_timer, jiffies + 2);
 
-	if (netif_running(adapter->netdev)) {
+	/* We were running when the reset started, so we need to restore some
+	 * state here.
+	 */
+	if (running) {
 		/* allocate transmit descriptors */
 		err = i40evf_setup_all_tx_resources(adapter);
 		if (err)