diff --git a/drivers/rtc/interface.c b/drivers/rtc/interface.c
index ce051f91829f9f0aa4477e3f3d773821aabb3f95..e62b341bdc9e7fd64f0979a2bba583200cc2da64 100644
--- a/drivers/rtc/interface.c
+++ b/drivers/rtc/interface.c
@@ -820,9 +820,13 @@ static int rtc_timer_enqueue(struct rtc_device *rtc, struct rtc_timer *timer)
 	struct timerqueue_node *next = timerqueue_getnext(&rtc->timerqueue);
 	struct rtc_time tm;
 	ktime_t now;
+	int err;
+
+	err = __rtc_read_time(rtc, &tm);
+	if (err)
+		return err;
 
 	timer->enabled = 1;
-	__rtc_read_time(rtc, &tm);
 	now = rtc_tm_to_ktime(tm);
 
 	/* Skip over expired timers */
@@ -836,7 +840,6 @@ static int rtc_timer_enqueue(struct rtc_device *rtc, struct rtc_timer *timer)
 	trace_rtc_timer_enqueue(timer);
 	if (!next || ktime_before(timer->node.expires, next->expires)) {
 		struct rtc_wkalrm alarm;
-		int err;
 		alarm.time = rtc_ktime_to_tm(timer->node.expires);
 		alarm.enabled = 1;
 		err = __rtc_set_alarm(rtc, &alarm);