diff --git a/src/smap/smap.c b/src/smap/smap.c
index 6f4083e4ddfe5b54af278e6e450fd76803bdf564..776ecf3b1aded89f6fd8c24e2ff41cf9e190c319 100644
--- a/src/smap/smap.c
+++ b/src/smap/smap.c
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 #ifdef HAVE_BGL
 	error_code = slurm_load_node((time_t) NULL, &node_info_ptr, 0);
 	if (error_code) {
+		node_info_ptr = NULL;
 		slurm_perror("slurm_load_node");
 		pa_init(NULL);
 	} else {