diff --git a/arch/arm/mach-omap2/display.c b/arch/arm/mach-omap2/display.c
index 6daaa645ae5d..21413a9b7b6c 100644
--- a/arch/arm/mach-omap2/display.c
+++ b/arch/arm/mach-omap2/display.c
@@ -263,9 +263,9 @@ static int __init omapdss_init_of(void)
 	}
 
 	r = of_platform_populate(node, NULL, NULL, &pdev->dev);
+	put_device(&pdev->dev);
 	if (r) {
 		pr_err("Unable to populate DSS submodule devices\n");
-		put_device(&pdev->dev);
 		return r;
 	}