diff --git a/accelerators/nvidia.go b/accelerators/nvidia.go
index 054d206b..496feba5 100644
--- a/accelerators/nvidia.go
+++ b/accelerators/nvidia.go
@@ -31,7 +31,10 @@ import (
 )
 
 type NvidiaManager struct {
-	sync.RWMutex
+	sync.Mutex
+
+	// true if there are NVIDIA devices present on the node
+	devicesPresent bool
 
 	// true if the NVML library (libnvidia-ml.so.1) was loaded successfully
 	nvmlInitialized bool
@@ -51,20 +54,9 @@ func (nm *NvidiaManager) Setup() {
 		return
 	}
 
-	nm.initializeNVML()
-	if nm.nvmlInitialized {
-		return
-	}
-	go func() {
-		glog.V(2).Info("Starting goroutine to initialize NVML")
-		// TODO: use globalHousekeepingInterval
-		for range time.Tick(time.Minute) {
-			nm.initializeNVML()
-			if nm.nvmlInitialized {
-				return
-			}
-		}
-	}()
+	nm.devicesPresent = true
+
+	initializeNVML(nm)
 }
 
 // detectDevices returns true if a device with given pci id is present on the node.
@@ -91,20 +83,18 @@ func detectDevices(vendorId string) bool {
 }
 
 // initializeNVML initializes the NVML library and sets up the nvmlDevices map.
-func (nm *NvidiaManager) initializeNVML() {
+// This is defined as a variable to help in testing.
+var initializeNVML = func(nm *NvidiaManager) {
 	if err := gonvml.Initialize(); err != nil {
 		// This is under a logging level because otherwise we may cause
 		// log spam if the drivers/nvml is not installed on the system.
 		glog.V(4).Infof("Could not initialize NVML: %v", err)
 		return
 	}
+	nm.nvmlInitialized = true
 	numDevices, err := gonvml.DeviceCount()
 	if err != nil {
 		glog.Warningf("GPU metrics would not be available. Failed to get the number of nvidia devices: %v", err)
-		nm.Lock()
-		// Even though we won't have GPU metrics, the library was initialized and should be shutdown when exiting.
-		nm.nvmlInitialized = true
-		nm.Unlock()
 		return
 	}
 	glog.V(1).Infof("NVML initialized. Number of nvidia devices: %v", numDevices)
@@ -122,10 +112,6 @@ func (nm *NvidiaManager) initializeNVML() {
 		}
 		nm.nvidiaDevices[int(minorNumber)] = device
 	}
-	nm.Lock()
-	// Doing this at the end to avoid race in accessing nvidiaDevices in GetCollector.
-	nm.nvmlInitialized = true
-	nm.Unlock()
 }
 
 // Destroy shuts down NVML.
@@ -139,12 +125,21 @@ func (nm *NvidiaManager) Destroy() {
 // present in the devices.list file in the given devicesCgroupPath.
 func (nm *NvidiaManager) GetCollector(devicesCgroupPath string) (AcceleratorCollector, error) {
 	nc := &NvidiaCollector{}
-	nm.RLock()
-	if !nm.nvmlInitialized || len(nm.nvidiaDevices) == 0 {
-		nm.RUnlock()
+
+	if !nm.devicesPresent {
 		return nc, nil
 	}
-	nm.RUnlock()
+	// Makes sure that we don't call initializeNVML() concurrently and
+	// that we only call initializeNVML() when it's not initialized.
+	nm.Lock()
+	if !nm.nvmlInitialized {
+		initializeNVML(nm)
+	}
+	if !nm.nvmlInitialized || len(nm.nvidiaDevices) == 0 {
+		nm.Unlock()
+		return nc, nil
+	}
+	nm.Unlock()
 	nvidiaMinorNumbers, err := parseDevicesCgroup(devicesCgroupPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nc, err
diff --git a/accelerators/nvidia_test.go b/accelerators/nvidia_test.go
index c054433f..b7e7c4d6 100644
--- a/accelerators/nvidia_test.go
+++ b/accelerators/nvidia_test.go
@@ -71,13 +71,16 @@ func TestGetCollector(t *testing.T) {
 		return []int{2, 3}, nil
 	}
 	parseDevicesCgroup = mockParser
+	originalInitializeNVML := initializeNVML
+	initializeNVML = func(_ *NvidiaManager) {}
 	defer func() {
 		parseDevicesCgroup = originalParser
+		initializeNVML = originalInitializeNVML
 	}()
 
 	nm := &NvidiaManager{}
 
-	// When nvmlInitialized is false, empty collector should be returned.
+	// When devicesPresent is false, empty collector should be returned.
 	ac, err := nm.GetCollector("does-not-matter")
 	assert.Nil(t, err)
 	assert.NotNil(t, ac)
@@ -85,6 +88,15 @@ func TestGetCollector(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.True(t, ok)
 	assert.Equal(t, 0, len(nc.Devices))
 
+	// When nvmlInitialized is false, empty collector should be returned.
+	nm.devicesPresent = true
+	ac, err = nm.GetCollector("does-not-matter")
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.NotNil(t, ac)
+	nc, ok = ac.(*NvidiaCollector)
+	assert.True(t, ok)
+	assert.Equal(t, 0, len(nc.Devices))
+
 	// When nvidiaDevices is empty, empty collector should be returned.
 	nm.nvmlInitialized = true
 	ac, err = nm.GetCollector("does-not-matter")