diff --git a/mm/page-writeback.c b/mm/page-writeback.c
index 45e187b..b4fd980 100644
--- a/mm/page-writeback.c
+++ b/mm/page-writeback.c
@@ -922,7 +922,7 @@
 				    unsigned long now)
 {
 	static DEFINE_SPINLOCK(dirty_lock);
-	static unsigned long update_time;
+	static unsigned long update_time = INITIAL_JIFFIES;
 
 	/*
 	 * check locklessly first to optimize away locking for the most time