diff --git a/fs/nfs/filelayout/filelayout.c b/fs/nfs/filelayout/filelayout.c
index d175724ff566..2478a69da0f0 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/filelayout/filelayout.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/filelayout/filelayout.c
@@ -904,7 +904,7 @@ fl_pnfs_update_layout(struct inode *ino,
 	status = filelayout_check_deviceid(lo, fl, gfp_flags);
 	if (status) {
 		pnfs_put_lseg(lseg);
-		lseg = ERR_PTR(status);
+		lseg = NULL;
 	}
 out:
 	return lseg;