diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/mv643xx_eth.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/mv643xx_eth.c
index 1b61fe2e9b4d..90fd5588e20d 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/mv643xx_eth.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/mv643xx_eth.c
@@ -2747,7 +2747,7 @@ static int mv643xx_eth_shared_of_add_port(struct platform_device *pdev,
 	}
 
 	ret = of_get_mac_address(pnp, ppd.mac_addr);
-	if (ret)
+	if (ret == -EPROBE_DEFER)
 		return ret;
 
 	mv643xx_eth_property(pnp, "tx-queue-size", ppd.tx_queue_size);