diff --git a/drivers/net/e1000/e1000_main.c b/drivers/net/e1000/e1000_main.c
index ef12931d302a..9bdcf4d2ab19 100644
--- a/drivers/net/e1000/e1000_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/e1000/e1000_main.c
@@ -1234,15 +1234,14 @@ static int __devinit e1000_probe(struct pci_dev *pdev,
 	    !e1000_check_mng_mode(hw))
 		e1000_get_hw_control(adapter);
 
-	/* tell the stack to leave us alone until e1000_open() is called */
-	netif_carrier_off(netdev);
-	netif_stop_queue(netdev);
-
 	strcpy(netdev->name, "eth%d");
 	err = register_netdev(netdev);
 	if (err)
 		goto err_register;
 
+	/* carrier off reporting is important to ethtool even BEFORE open */
+	netif_carrier_off(netdev);
+
 	DPRINTK(PROBE, INFO, "Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection\n");
 
 	cards_found++;
@@ -1441,6 +1440,8 @@ static int e1000_open(struct net_device *netdev)
 	if (test_bit(__E1000_TESTING, &adapter->flags))
 		return -EBUSY;
 
+	netif_carrier_off(netdev);
+
 	/* allocate transmit descriptors */
 	err = e1000_setup_all_tx_resources(adapter);
 	if (err)