diff --git a/drivers/gpio/gpio-brcmstb.c b/drivers/gpio/gpio-brcmstb.c
index 7a3cb1fa0a76..4630a8133ea6 100644
--- a/drivers/gpio/gpio-brcmstb.c
+++ b/drivers/gpio/gpio-brcmstb.c
@@ -87,6 +87,15 @@ static int brcmstb_gpio_remove(struct platform_device *pdev)
 	struct brcmstb_gpio_bank *bank;
 	int ret = 0;
 
+	if (!priv) {
+		dev_err(&pdev->dev, "called %s without drvdata!\n", __func__);
+		return -EFAULT;
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * You can lose return values below, but we report all errors, and it's
+	 * more important to actually perform all of the steps.
+	 */
 	list_for_each(pos, &priv->bank_list) {
 		bank = list_entry(pos, struct brcmstb_gpio_bank, node);
 		ret = bgpio_remove(&bank->bgc);
@@ -143,6 +152,8 @@ static int brcmstb_gpio_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
 	priv = devm_kzalloc(dev, sizeof(*priv), GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!priv)
 		return -ENOMEM;
+	platform_set_drvdata(pdev, priv);
+	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&priv->bank_list);
 
 	res = platform_get_resource(pdev, IORESOURCE_MEM, 0);
 	reg_base = devm_ioremap_resource(dev, res);
@@ -153,7 +164,6 @@ static int brcmstb_gpio_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
 	priv->reg_base = reg_base;
 	priv->pdev = pdev;
 
-	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&priv->bank_list);
 	if (brcmstb_gpio_sanity_check_banks(dev, np, res))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
@@ -221,8 +231,6 @@ static int brcmstb_gpio_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
 	dev_info(dev, "Registered %d banks (GPIO(s): %d-%d)\n",
 			priv->num_banks, priv->gpio_base, gpio_base - 1);
 
-	platform_set_drvdata(pdev, priv);
-
 	return 0;
 
 fail: