diff --git a/block/partitions/aix.c b/block/partitions/aix.c
index fa74698e12a6..8e7d358e0226 100644
--- a/block/partitions/aix.c
+++ b/block/partitions/aix.c
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ int aix_partition(struct parsed_partitions *state)
 	u32 vgda_sector = 0;
 	u32 vgda_len = 0;
 	int numlvs = 0;
-	struct pvd *pvd;
+	struct pvd *pvd = NULL;
 	struct lv_info {
 		unsigned short pps_per_lv;
 		unsigned short pps_found;
@@ -231,10 +231,11 @@ int aix_partition(struct parsed_partitions *state)
 				if (lvip[i].pps_per_lv)
 					foundlvs += 1;
 			}
+			/* pvd loops depend on n[].name and lvip[].pps_per_lv */
+			pvd = alloc_pvd(state, vgda_sector + 17);
 		}
 		put_dev_sector(sect);
 	}
-	pvd = alloc_pvd(state, vgda_sector + 17);
 	if (pvd) {
 		int numpps = be16_to_cpu(pvd->pp_count);
 		int psn_part1 = be32_to_cpu(pvd->psn_part1);