diff --git a/drivers/base/memory.c b/drivers/base/memory.c
index abf407e45467fab45595e0d4d4a7d871ec4954ce..6ee2181adc3feb7df73db767f6c85ea198bc3c5e 100644
--- a/drivers/base/memory.c
+++ b/drivers/base/memory.c
@@ -665,14 +665,16 @@ static int init_memory_block(unsigned long block_id, unsigned long state,
 	mem->nr_vmemmap_pages = nr_vmemmap_pages;
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&mem->group_next);
 
+	ret = register_memory(mem);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
+
 	if (group) {
 		mem->group = group;
 		list_add(&mem->group_next, &group->memory_blocks);
 	}
 
-	ret = register_memory(mem);
-
-	return ret;
+	return 0;
 }
 
 static int add_memory_block(unsigned long base_section_nr)