diff --git a/drivers/net/phy/phy_device.c b/drivers/net/phy/phy_device.c
index ac23322a32e1ce57e5fac4d90699dcbe48219d26..9e4ba8e80a18af1a655fd189191cfc242c0a9722 100644
--- a/drivers/net/phy/phy_device.c
+++ b/drivers/net/phy/phy_device.c
@@ -535,8 +535,17 @@ static int get_phy_id(struct mii_bus *bus, int addr, u32 *phy_id,
 
 	/* Grab the bits from PHYIR1, and put them in the upper half */
 	phy_reg = mdiobus_read(bus, addr, MII_PHYSID1);
-	if (phy_reg < 0)
+	if (phy_reg < 0) {
+		/* if there is no device, return without an error so scanning
+		 * the bus works properly
+		 */
+		if (phy_reg == -EIO || phy_reg == -ENODEV) {
+			*phy_id = 0xffffffff;
+			return 0;
+		}
+
 		return -EIO;
+	}
 
 	*phy_id = (phy_reg & 0xffff) << 16;