diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/mcdi.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/mcdi.c
index 5132abaad649..2b9ef282ae8c 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/mcdi.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/mcdi.c
@@ -50,13 +50,10 @@ static inline struct efx_mcdi_iface *efx_mcdi(struct efx_nic *efx)
 	return &nic_data->mcdi;
 }
 
-void efx_mcdi_init(struct efx_nic *efx)
+int efx_mcdi_init(struct efx_nic *efx)
 {
 	struct efx_mcdi_iface *mcdi;
 
-	if (efx_nic_rev(efx) < EFX_REV_SIENA_A0)
-		return;
-
 	mcdi = efx_mcdi(efx);
 	init_waitqueue_head(&mcdi->wq);
 	spin_lock_init(&mcdi->iface_lock);
@@ -64,6 +61,9 @@ void efx_mcdi_init(struct efx_nic *efx)
 	mcdi->mode = MCDI_MODE_POLL;
 
 	(void) efx_mcdi_poll_reboot(efx);
+
+	/* Recover from a failed assertion before probing */
+	return efx_mcdi_handle_assertion(efx);
 }
 
 static void efx_mcdi_copyin(struct efx_nic *efx, unsigned cmd,
diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/mcdi.h b/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/mcdi.h
index c8f2cd57041c..6c58dbd7f581 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/mcdi.h
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/mcdi.h
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ struct efx_mcdi_mon {
 	unsigned int n_attrs;
 };
 
-extern void efx_mcdi_init(struct efx_nic *efx);
+extern int efx_mcdi_init(struct efx_nic *efx);
 
 extern int efx_mcdi_rpc(struct efx_nic *efx, unsigned cmd,
 			const efx_dword_t *inbuf, size_t inlen,
diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/siena.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/siena.c
index b5d5568485d0..3dca771938f0 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/siena.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/siena.c
@@ -210,10 +210,7 @@ static int siena_probe_nic(struct efx_nic *efx)
 	efx_reado(efx, &reg, FR_AZ_CS_DEBUG);
 	efx->port_num = EFX_OWORD_FIELD(reg, FRF_CZ_CS_PORT_NUM) - 1;
 
-	efx_mcdi_init(efx);
-
-	/* Recover from a failed assertion before probing */
-	rc = efx_mcdi_handle_assertion(efx);
+	rc = efx_mcdi_init(efx);
 	if (rc)
 		goto fail1;