diff --git a/drivers/nvdimm/btt.c b/drivers/nvdimm/btt.c
index e949e3302af4..5860f99113c6 100644
--- a/drivers/nvdimm/btt.c
+++ b/drivers/nvdimm/btt.c
@@ -630,6 +630,7 @@ static struct arena_info *alloc_arena(struct btt *btt, size_t size,
 		return NULL;
 	arena->nd_btt = btt->nd_btt;
 	arena->sector_size = btt->sector_size;
+	mutex_init(&arena->err_lock);
 
 	if (!size)
 		return arena;
@@ -758,7 +759,6 @@ static int discover_arenas(struct btt *btt)
 		arena->external_lba_start = cur_nlba;
 		parse_arena_meta(arena, super, cur_off);
 
-		mutex_init(&arena->err_lock);
 		ret = btt_freelist_init(arena);
 		if (ret)
 			goto out;