diff --git a/drivers/acpi/acpi_watchdog.c b/drivers/acpi/acpi_watchdog.c
index 13caebd679f5..8c4e0a18460a 100644
--- a/drivers/acpi/acpi_watchdog.c
+++ b/drivers/acpi/acpi_watchdog.c
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ void __init acpi_watchdog_init(void)
 	pdev = platform_device_register_simple("wdat_wdt", PLATFORM_DEVID_NONE,
 					       resources, nresources);
 	if (IS_ERR(pdev))
-		pr_err("Failed to create platform device\n");
+		pr_err("Device creation failed: %ld\n", PTR_ERR(pdev));
 
 	kfree(resources);