diff --git a/tests/nvme/048 b/tests/nvme/048
index 8c314fae..f76cfedf 100755
--- a/tests/nvme/048
+++ b/tests/nvme/048
@@ -47,15 +47,24 @@ nvmf_check_queue_count() {
 	local queue_count="$2"
 	local nvmedev
 	local queue_count_file
+	local retries
 
 	nvmedev=$(_find_nvme_dev "${subsys_name}")
+	queue_count=$((queue_count + 1))
+	retries=5
+
 	queue_count_file=$(cat /sys/class/nvme-fabrics/ctl/"${nvmedev}"/queue_count)
+	while [[ "${queue_count}" -ne "${queue_count_file}" ]]; do
+		if [[ "${retries}" == 0 ]]; then
+			echo "expected queue count ${queue_count} not set"
+			return 1
+		fi
 
-	queue_count=$((queue_count + 1))
-	if [[ "${queue_count}" -ne "${queue_count_file}" ]]; then
-		echo "expected queue count ${queue_count} not set"
-		return 1
-	fi
+		sleep 1
+
+		retries=$((retries - 1))
+		queue_count_file=$(cat /sys/class/nvme-fabrics/ctl/"${nvmedev}"/queue_count)
+	done
 
 	return 0
 }
@@ -73,8 +82,8 @@ set_qid_max() {
 	local qid_max="$2"
 
 	set_nvmet_attr_qid_max "${subsys_name}" "${qid_max}"
-	nvmf_wait_for_state "${subsys_name}" "live" || return 1
 	nvmf_check_queue_count "${subsys_name}" "${qid_max}" || return 1
+	nvmf_wait_for_state "${subsys_name}" "live" || return 1
 
 	return 0
 }