diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_dp_helper.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_dp_helper.c
index 7d58f594cffef716a0f5dc431f12ae6504e1e5fd..df64ed1c0139e9213912e0f05043489ce6f0d0ba 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_dp_helper.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_dp_helper.c
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ static int drm_dp_dpcd_access(struct drm_dp_aux *aux, u8 request,
 {
 	struct drm_dp_aux_msg msg;
 	unsigned int retry;
-	int err;
+	int err = 0;
 
 	memset(&msg, 0, sizeof(msg));
 	msg.address = offset;
@@ -187,6 +187,8 @@ static int drm_dp_dpcd_access(struct drm_dp_aux *aux, u8 request,
 	msg.buffer = buffer;
 	msg.size = size;
 
+	mutex_lock(&aux->hw_mutex);
+
 	/*
 	 * The specification doesn't give any recommendation on how often to
 	 * retry native transactions. We used to retry 7 times like for
@@ -195,25 +197,24 @@ static int drm_dp_dpcd_access(struct drm_dp_aux *aux, u8 request,
 	 */
 	for (retry = 0; retry < 32; retry++) {
 
-		mutex_lock(&aux->hw_mutex);
 		err = aux->transfer(aux, &msg);
-		mutex_unlock(&aux->hw_mutex);
 		if (err < 0) {
 			if (err == -EBUSY)
 				continue;
 
-			return err;
+			goto unlock;
 		}
 
 
 		switch (msg.reply & DP_AUX_NATIVE_REPLY_MASK) {
 		case DP_AUX_NATIVE_REPLY_ACK:
 			if (err < size)
-				return -EPROTO;
-			return err;
+				err = -EPROTO;
+			goto unlock;
 
 		case DP_AUX_NATIVE_REPLY_NACK:
-			return -EIO;
+			err = -EIO;
+			goto unlock;
 
 		case DP_AUX_NATIVE_REPLY_DEFER:
 			usleep_range(AUX_RETRY_INTERVAL, AUX_RETRY_INTERVAL + 100);
@@ -222,7 +223,11 @@ static int drm_dp_dpcd_access(struct drm_dp_aux *aux, u8 request,
 	}
 
 	DRM_DEBUG_KMS("too many retries, giving up\n");
-	return -EIO;
+	err = -EIO;
+
+unlock:
+	mutex_unlock(&aux->hw_mutex);
+	return err;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -544,9 +549,7 @@ static int drm_dp_i2c_do_msg(struct drm_dp_aux *aux, struct drm_dp_aux_msg *msg)
 	int max_retries = max(7, drm_dp_i2c_retry_count(msg, dp_aux_i2c_speed_khz));
 
 	for (retry = 0, defer_i2c = 0; retry < (max_retries + defer_i2c); retry++) {
-		mutex_lock(&aux->hw_mutex);
 		ret = aux->transfer(aux, msg);
-		mutex_unlock(&aux->hw_mutex);
 		if (ret < 0) {
 			if (ret == -EBUSY)
 				continue;
@@ -685,6 +688,8 @@ static int drm_dp_i2c_xfer(struct i2c_adapter *adapter, struct i2c_msg *msgs,
 
 	memset(&msg, 0, sizeof(msg));
 
+	mutex_lock(&aux->hw_mutex);
+
 	for (i = 0; i < num; i++) {
 		msg.address = msgs[i].addr;
 		drm_dp_i2c_msg_set_request(&msg, &msgs[i]);
@@ -739,6 +744,8 @@ static int drm_dp_i2c_xfer(struct i2c_adapter *adapter, struct i2c_msg *msgs,
 	msg.size = 0;
 	(void)drm_dp_i2c_do_msg(aux, &msg);
 
+	mutex_unlock(&aux->hw_mutex);
+
 	return err;
 }