diff --git a/alsactl/init_sysfs.c b/alsactl/init_sysfs.c
index 5c789b6..57ef615 100644
--- a/alsactl/init_sysfs.c
+++ b/alsactl/init_sysfs.c
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ static int sysfs_init(void)
 	const char *env;
 	char sysfs_test[PATH_SIZE];
 
+	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&attr_list);
+
 	env = getenv("SYSFS_PATH");
 	if (env) {
 		strlcpy(sysfs_path, env, sizeof(sysfs_path));
@@ -43,13 +45,16 @@ static int sysfs_init(void)
 	dbg("sysfs_path='%s'", sysfs_path);
 
 	strlcpy(sysfs_test, sysfs_path, sizeof(sysfs_test));
-	strlcat(sysfs_test, "/kernel/uevent_helper", sizeof(sysfs_test));
+	strlcat(sysfs_test, "/kernel/uevent_seqnum", sizeof(sysfs_test));
 	if (access(sysfs_test, F_OK)) {
-		error("sysfs path '%s' is invalid\n", sysfs_path);
-		return -errno;
+		strlcpy(sysfs_test, sysfs_path, sizeof(sysfs_test));
+		strlcat(sysfs_test, "/kernel/uevent_helper", sizeof(sysfs_test));
+		if (access(sysfs_test, F_OK)) {
+			error("sysfs path '%s' is invalid", sysfs_path);
+			return -errno;
+		}
 	}
 
-	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&attr_list);
 	return 0;
 }