diff --git a/scripts/bash-completion/spdk b/scripts/bash-completion/spdk
index 3f884f9df..a7cf5bc39 100644
--- a/scripts/bash-completion/spdk
+++ b/scripts/bash-completion/spdk
@@ -25,11 +25,6 @@ _get_help_pos() {
 }
 
 _get_default_rpc_methods() {
-	if [[ -S $rpc_sock ]]; then
-		_get_supported_methods "$1"
-		return 0
-	fi
-
 	local aliases method names
 	# Don't squash whitespaces, slurp the entire line
 	while read -r; do
@@ -53,7 +48,10 @@ _get_default_rpc_methods() {
 _get_supported_methods() {
 	local method methods
 
-	mapfile -t methods < <("$1" -s "$rpc_sock" rpc_get_methods 2> /dev/null)
+	if ! methods=($("$1" -s "$rpc_sock" rpc_get_methods 2> /dev/null)); then
+		_get_default_rpc_methods "$1"
+		return 0
+	fi
 	((${#methods[@]} > 0)) || return 0
 
 	# Kill the json flavor
@@ -209,7 +207,11 @@ _rpc() {
 	local -A rpc_methods=()
 
 	_set_rpc_sock
-	_get_default_rpc_methods "$rpc"
+	if [[ -S $rpc_sock ]]; then
+		_get_supported_methods "$rpc"
+	else
+		_get_default_rpc_methods "$rpc"
+	fi
 
 	if method=$(_method_in_words); then
 		COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '$(_get_help_rpc_method "$rpc" "$method")' -- "$cur"))