diff --git a/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c b/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c
index 40ec93fedde9..23ff6c8b7a20 100644
--- a/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c
+++ b/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c
@@ -535,10 +535,13 @@ static int rpmsg_send_offchannel_raw(struct rpmsg_device *rpdev,
 					(msg = get_a_tx_buf(vrp)),
 					msecs_to_jiffies(15000));
 
+		if (err < 0)
+			return err;
+
 		/* timeout ? */
 		if (!err) {
 			dev_err(dev, "timeout waiting for a tx buffer\n");
-			return -ERESTARTSYS;
+			return -ETIMEDOUT;
 		}
 	}