diff --git a/drivers/dma/dmaengine.c b/drivers/dma/dmaengine.c
index f3ef4edd4de178dea5e920cb8df4d467d937b800..7b1cefc3213a6622c81a59987365baab689b4b06 100644
--- a/drivers/dma/dmaengine.c
+++ b/drivers/dma/dmaengine.c
@@ -759,7 +759,7 @@ struct dma_chan *dma_request_chan(struct device *dev, const char *name)
 	if (!IS_ERR_OR_NULL(chan))
 		goto found;
 
-	return ERR_PTR(-EPROBE_DEFER);
+	return chan ? chan : ERR_PTR(-EPROBE_DEFER);
 
 found:
 	chan->slave = dev;