diff --git a/drivers/staging/greybus/light.c b/drivers/staging/greybus/light.c
index 78fb8a9f6a48..3d42a5dafee9 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/greybus/light.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/greybus/light.c
@@ -1221,6 +1221,8 @@ static int gb_lights_probe(struct gb_bundle *bundle,
 	if (!glights)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
+	mutex_init(&glights->lights_lock);
+
 	connection = gb_connection_create(bundle, le16_to_cpu(cport_desc->id),
 					  gb_lights_request_handler);
 	if (IS_ERR(connection)) {
@@ -1231,8 +1233,6 @@ static int gb_lights_probe(struct gb_bundle *bundle,
 	glights->connection = connection;
 	gb_connection_set_data(connection, glights);
 
-	mutex_init(&glights->lights_lock);
-
 	greybus_set_drvdata(bundle, glights);
 
 	/* We aren't ready to receive an incoming request yet */