efc = node->efc;
 
-       spin_lock_irqsave(&node->els_ios_lock, flags);
-
        if (!node->els_io_enabled) {
                efc_log_err(efc, "els io alloc disabled\n");
-               spin_unlock_irqrestore(&node->els_ios_lock, flags);
                return NULL;
        }
 
        els = mempool_alloc(efc->els_io_pool, GFP_ATOMIC);
        if (!els) {
                atomic_add_return(1, &efc->els_io_alloc_failed_count);
-               spin_unlock_irqrestore(&node->els_ios_lock, flags);
                return NULL;
        }
 
                                              &els->io.req.phys, GFP_KERNEL);
        if (!els->io.req.virt) {
                mempool_free(els, efc->els_io_pool);
-               spin_unlock_irqrestore(&node->els_ios_lock, flags);
                return NULL;
        }
 
 
                /* add els structure to ELS IO list */
                INIT_LIST_HEAD(&els->list_entry);
+               spin_lock_irqsave(&node->els_ios_lock, flags);
                list_add_tail(&els->list_entry, &node->els_ios_list);
+               spin_unlock_irqrestore(&node->els_ios_lock, flags);
        }
 
-       spin_unlock_irqrestore(&node->els_ios_lock, flags);
        return els;
 }