diff --git a/mm/page-writeback.c b/mm/page-writeback.c
index 057884c2b4d9..b747dcdabb18 100644
--- a/mm/page-writeback.c
+++ b/mm/page-writeback.c
@@ -831,7 +831,7 @@ static void global_update_bandwidth(unsigned long thresh,
 				    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