diff --git a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c
index fa9db415e219..1caaa3b3ee10 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c
@@ -1562,6 +1562,10 @@ static int i2c_register_adapter(struct i2c_adapter *adap)
 	adap->dev.type = &i2c_adapter_type;
 	device_initialize(&adap->dev);
 
+	res = i2c_init_recovery(adap);
+	if (res == -EPROBE_DEFER)
+		goto err_put_adap;
+
 	/*
 	 * This adapter can be used as a parent immediately after device_add(),
 	 * setup runtime-pm (especially ignore-children) before hand.
@@ -1583,10 +1587,6 @@ static int i2c_register_adapter(struct i2c_adapter *adap)
 	if (res)
 		goto out_reg;
 
-	res = i2c_init_recovery(adap);
-	if (res == -EPROBE_DEFER)
-		goto out_reg;
-
 	dev_dbg(&adap->dev, "adapter [%s] registered\n", adap->name);
 
 	/* create pre-declared device nodes */