diff --git a/src/elpa_impl.F90 b/src/elpa_impl.F90
index 74499610df55ed9f91547750e5a4c23124c332ac..246c820e8a2e8a75c61d0e416e43d87e94a88d15 100644
--- a/src/elpa_impl.F90
+++ b/src/elpa_impl.F90
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ module elpa_impl
       if ( elpa_initialized() .ne. ELPA_OK) then
         write(error_unit, *) "elpa_allocate(): you must call elpa_init() once before creating instances of ELPA"
         if(present(error)) then
-          error = ELPA_ERROR_SETUP
+          error = ELPA_ERROR_API_VERSION
         endif
         return
       endif