diff --git a/drivers/nfc/st21nfca/st21nfca.c b/drivers/nfc/st21nfca/st21nfca.c
index b6ad8c9..438e06e 100644
--- a/drivers/nfc/st21nfca/st21nfca.c
+++ b/drivers/nfc/st21nfca/st21nfca.c
@@ -905,8 +905,11 @@
 	 * persistent info to discriminate 2 identical chips
 	 */
 	dev_num = find_first_zero_bit(dev_mask, ST21NFCA_NUM_DEVICES);
+
 	if (dev_num >= ST21NFCA_NUM_DEVICES)
-		goto err_alloc_hdev;
+		return -ENODEV;
+
+	set_bit(dev_num, dev_mask);
 
 	scnprintf(init_data.session_id, sizeof(init_data.session_id), "%s%2x",
 		  "ST21AH", dev_num);