diff --git a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
index 0e3f6496524d92c7c1717d8d2259684952d7acb8..26b643d57847de0fca4afc099f4bec49d6326be9 100644
--- a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
+++ b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
@@ -2468,6 +2468,7 @@ int cpufreq_register_driver(struct cpufreq_driver *driver_data)
 	if (!(cpufreq_driver->flags & CPUFREQ_STICKY) &&
 	    list_empty(&cpufreq_policy_list)) {
 		/* if all ->init() calls failed, unregister */
+		ret = -ENODEV;
 		pr_debug("%s: No CPU initialized for driver %s\n", __func__,
 			 driver_data->name);
 		goto err_if_unreg;