diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/graph/axes_editor.ts b/public/app/plugins/panel/graph/axes_editor.ts
index 502af07ff79..6dbbc80c4cd 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/graph/axes_editor.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/graph/axes_editor.ts
@@ -58,7 +58,9 @@ export class AxesEditorCtrl {
   }
 
   xAxisOptionChanged()  {
-    this.panelCtrl.processor.setPanelDefaultsForNewXAxisMode();
+    if (!this.panel.xaxis.values || !this.panel.xaxis.values[0]){
+      this.panelCtrl.processor.setPanelDefaultsForNewXAxisMode();
+    }
     this.panelCtrl.onDataReceived(this.panelCtrl.dataList);
   }