A buffer to buffer credit recovery mechanism is disclosed in which the ports involved in the credit recovery operation are synchronized while credit recovery is being enabled and during a credit recovery operation when credit recovery parameters are being reset. Buffer to buffer credit recovery involves exchanging primitive control signals and parameters during the login sequence to enable credit recovery. Once credit is lost; there may be a need for resetting a link to reset the credit recovery counters and BB credits. Both of these processes require synchronization between the ports involved in the credit recovery mechanism. This synchronization is achieved by enabling credit recovery during the Link Reset protocol negotiation and ensuring that no frames or R_RDYs are exchanged during the procedure.