diff --git a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
index 6153b66139d5..286d4d61bd0b 100644
--- a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
+++ b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
@@ -2474,6 +2474,7 @@ int cpufreq_register_driver(struct cpufreq_driver *driver_data)
 	if (!(cpufreq_driver->flags & CPUFREQ_STICKY) &&
 	    list_empty(&cpufreq_policy_list)) {
 		/* if all ->init() calls failed, unregister */
+		ret = -ENODEV;
 		pr_debug("%s: No CPU initialized for driver %s\n", __func__,
 			 driver_data->name);
 		goto err_if_unreg;