diff --git a/src/runtime/signal_unix.go b/src/runtime/signal_unix.go
index f2e526973d..03e2a40ce6 100644
--- a/src/runtime/signal_unix.go
+++ b/src/runtime/signal_unix.go
@@ -280,6 +280,8 @@ func setProcessCPUProfiler(hz int32) {
 		it.it_value = it.it_interval
 		setitimer(_ITIMER_PROF, &it, nil)
 	} else {
+		setitimer(_ITIMER_PROF, &itimerval{}, nil)
+
 		// If the Go signal handler should be disabled by default,
 		// switch back to the signal handler that was installed
 		// when we enabled profiling. We don't try to handle the case
@@ -303,8 +305,6 @@ func setProcessCPUProfiler(hz int32) {
 				setsig(_SIGPROF, h)
 			}
 		}
-
-		setitimer(_ITIMER_PROF, &itimerval{}, nil)
 	}
 }