diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/radeon/rv770.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/radeon/rv770.c
index cf8f2b1..2d46576 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/radeon/rv770.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/radeon/rv770.c
@@ -887,26 +887,19 @@
 			return r;
 	}
 	rv770_gpu_init(rdev);
-
-	if (!rdev->r600_blit.shader_obj) {
-		r = r600_blit_init(rdev);
+	/* pin copy shader into vram */
+	if (rdev->r600_blit.shader_obj) {
+		r = radeon_bo_reserve(rdev->r600_blit.shader_obj, false);
+		if (unlikely(r != 0))
+			return r;
+		r = radeon_bo_pin(rdev->r600_blit.shader_obj, RADEON_GEM_DOMAIN_VRAM,
+				&rdev->r600_blit.shader_gpu_addr);
+		radeon_bo_unreserve(rdev->r600_blit.shader_obj);
 		if (r) {
-			DRM_ERROR("radeon: failed blitter (%d).\n", r);
+			DRM_ERROR("failed to pin blit object %d\n", r);
 			return r;
 		}
 	}
-
-	r = radeon_bo_reserve(rdev->r600_blit.shader_obj, false);
-	if (unlikely(r != 0))
-		return r;
-	r = radeon_bo_pin(rdev->r600_blit.shader_obj, RADEON_GEM_DOMAIN_VRAM,
-			&rdev->r600_blit.shader_gpu_addr);
-	radeon_bo_unreserve(rdev->r600_blit.shader_obj);
-	if (r) {
-		DRM_ERROR("failed to pin blit object %d\n", r);
-		return r;
-	}
-
 	/* Enable IRQ */
 	r = r600_irq_init(rdev);
 	if (r) {
@@ -1062,6 +1055,12 @@
 	r = r600_pcie_gart_init(rdev);
 	if (r)
 		return r;
+	r = r600_blit_init(rdev);
+	if (r) {
+		r600_blit_fini(rdev);
+		rdev->asic->copy = NULL;
+		dev_warn(rdev->dev, "failed blitter (%d) falling back to memcpy\n", r);
+	}
 
 	rdev->accel_working = true;
 	r = rv770_startup(rdev);