diff --git a/drivers/net/cxgb3/sge.c b/drivers/net/cxgb3/sge.c
index 268f15801ec..bc6a8dcb8cc 100644
--- a/drivers/net/cxgb3/sge.c
+++ b/drivers/net/cxgb3/sge.c
@@ -549,16 +549,15 @@ static void *alloc_ring(struct pci_dev *pdev, size_t nelem, size_t elem_size,
 
 	if (!p)
 		return NULL;
-	if (sw_size) {
+	if (sw_size && metadata) {
 		s = kcalloc(nelem, sw_size, GFP_KERNEL);
 
 		if (!s) {
 			dma_free_coherent(&pdev->dev, len, p, *phys);
 			return NULL;
 		}
-	}
-	if (metadata)
 		*(void **)metadata = s;
+	}
 	memset(p, 0, len);
 	return p;
 }