diff --git a/drivers/staging/wilc1000/linux_wlan.c b/drivers/staging/wilc1000/linux_wlan.c
index 2ce9df5c6885c8622d9456af752c082a4195d2fd..3a66255f14fc77a7376eedee063452c0b45c06be 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/wilc1000/linux_wlan.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/wilc1000/linux_wlan.c
@@ -715,10 +715,10 @@ static int wlan_initialize_threads(struct net_device *dev)
 
 	wilc->txq_thread = kthread_run(linux_wlan_txq_task, (void *)dev,
 				     "K_TXQ_TASK");
-	if (!wilc->txq_thread) {
+	if (IS_ERR(wilc->txq_thread)) {
 		netdev_err(dev, "couldn't create TXQ thread\n");
 		wilc->close = 0;
-		return -ENOBUFS;
+		return PTR_ERR(wilc->txq_thread);
 	}
 	wait_for_completion(&wilc->txq_thread_started);