diff --git a/opal/mca/common/libfabric/configure.m4 b/opal/mca/common/libfabric/configure.m4
index 1d75989ee7..31e7b14d6a 100644
--- a/opal/mca/common/libfabric/configure.m4
+++ b/opal/mca/common/libfabric/configure.m4
@@ -201,7 +201,9 @@ AC_DEFUN([_OPAL_COMMON_LIBFABRIC_SETUP_LIBFABRIC_EMBEDDED],[
             # Check for gcc atomic intrinsics
             AC_MSG_CHECKING(compiler support for c11 atomics)
             AC_TRY_LINK([#include <stdatomic.h>],
-                        [#ifdef __STDC_NO_ATOMICS__
+                        [atomic_int a;
+   atomic_init(&a, 0);
+#ifdef __STDC_NO_ATOMICS__
 #error c11 atomics are not supported
 #else
     return 0;