diff --git a/drivers/net/phy/smsc.c b/drivers/net/phy/smsc.c
index 33372756a451fb45fa29e50a6e74f8965d461839..ddb78fb4d6dc37480e4ac6b131442316a27bcc84 100644
--- a/drivers/net/phy/smsc.c
+++ b/drivers/net/phy/smsc.c
@@ -317,7 +317,8 @@ static int smsc_phy_probe(struct phy_device *phydev)
 	/* Make clk optional to keep DTB backward compatibility. */
 	priv->refclk = clk_get_optional(dev, NULL);
 	if (IS_ERR(priv->refclk))
-		dev_err_probe(dev, PTR_ERR(priv->refclk), "Failed to request clock\n");
+		return dev_err_probe(dev, PTR_ERR(priv->refclk),
+				     "Failed to request clock\n");
 
 	ret = clk_prepare_enable(priv->refclk);
 	if (ret)