diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/core.c b/drivers/nvme/host/core.c
index 45d510a12c6be3fcc7febb3e4609a5e55a62ab3a..83d6740f8d4e363dc29de364eb02fd4618990438 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/core.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/core.c
@@ -1242,10 +1242,10 @@ static void nvme_keep_alive_work(struct work_struct *work)
 	}
 
 	rq = nvme_alloc_request(ctrl->admin_q, &ctrl->ka_cmd,
-				BLK_MQ_REQ_RESERVED);
+				BLK_MQ_REQ_RESERVED | BLK_MQ_REQ_NOWAIT);
 	if (IS_ERR(rq)) {
 		/* allocation failure, reset the controller */
-		dev_err(ctrl->device, "keep-alive failed\n");
+		dev_err(ctrl->device, "keep-alive failed: %ld\n", PTR_ERR(rq));
 		nvme_reset_ctrl(ctrl);
 		return;
 	}