diff --git a/drivers/staging/iio/accel/sca3000_core.c b/drivers/staging/iio/accel/sca3000_core.c
index a8f533af9eca..ec12181822e6 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/iio/accel/sca3000_core.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/iio/accel/sca3000_core.c
@@ -594,7 +594,7 @@ static ssize_t sca3000_read_frequency(struct device *dev,
 		goto error_ret_mut;
 	ret = sca3000_read_ctrl_reg(st, SCA3000_REG_CTRL_SEL_OUT_CTRL);
 	mutex_unlock(&st->lock);
-	if (ret)
+	if (ret < 0)
 		goto error_ret;
 	val = ret;
 	if (base_freq > 0)