diff --git a/arch/s390/oprofile/hwsampler.c b/arch/s390/oprofile/hwsampler.c
index 4634c9e..4552ce4 100644
--- a/arch/s390/oprofile/hwsampler.c
+++ b/arch/s390/oprofile/hwsampler.c
@@ -580,7 +580,7 @@
 {
 	/* We do not have sampler space available for all possible CPUs.
 	   All CPUs should be online when hw sampling is activated. */
-	return NOTIFY_BAD;
+	return (hws_state <= HWS_DEALLOCATED) ? NOTIFY_OK : NOTIFY_BAD;
 }
 
 static struct notifier_block hws_cpu_notifier = {