diff --git a/drivers/hwmon/adt7470.c b/drivers/hwmon/adt7470.c
index 9e775717abb7f36ab8c7aaf8103de53264e95951..87d92a56a939fcc531c934a1dd70f6ab6f83ab0c 100644
--- a/drivers/hwmon/adt7470.c
+++ b/drivers/hwmon/adt7470.c
@@ -1286,8 +1286,10 @@ static int adt7470_probe(struct i2c_client *client,
 	init_completion(&data->auto_update_stop);
 	data->auto_update = kthread_run(adt7470_update_thread, client,
 					dev_name(data->hwmon_dev));
-	if (IS_ERR(data->auto_update))
+	if (IS_ERR(data->auto_update)) {
+		err = PTR_ERR(data->auto_update);
 		goto exit_unregister;
+	}
 
 	return 0;