diff --git a/drivers/media/dvb-frontends/drx39xyj/drxj.c b/drivers/media/dvb-frontends/drx39xyj/drxj.c
index bf9e4ef35684..1dff59ca21a1 100644
--- a/drivers/media/dvb-frontends/drx39xyj/drxj.c
+++ b/drivers/media/dvb-frontends/drx39xyj/drxj.c
@@ -2347,6 +2347,7 @@ hi_command(struct i2c_device_addr *dev_addr, const struct drxj_hi_cmd *cmd, u16
 		do {
 			nr_retries++;
 			if (nr_retries > DRXJ_MAX_RETRIES) {
+				rc = -ETIMEDOUT;
 				pr_err("timeout\n");
 				goto rw_error;
 			}