diff --git a/drivers/staging/zcache/zcache-main.c b/drivers/staging/zcache/zcache-main.c
index 6bd4ebb3494d..118602ff3aed 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/zcache/zcache-main.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/zcache/zcache-main.c
@@ -1886,8 +1886,11 @@ static int __init zcache_init(void)
 			namestr, frontswap_has_exclusive_gets,
 			!disable_frontswap_ignore_nonactive);
 #endif
-		if (old_ops != NULL)
+		if (IS_ERR(old_ops) || old_ops) {
+			if (IS_ERR(old_ops))
+				return PTR_RET(old_ops);
 			pr_warn("%s: frontswap_ops overridden\n", namestr);
+		}
 	}
 	if (ramster_enabled)
 		ramster_init(!disable_cleancache, !disable_frontswap,
diff --git a/drivers/xen/tmem.c b/drivers/xen/tmem.c
index 8adde8e8428c..e3600be4e7fa 100644
--- a/drivers/xen/tmem.c
+++ b/drivers/xen/tmem.c
@@ -397,8 +397,11 @@ static int xen_tmem_init(void)
 			frontswap_register_ops(&tmem_frontswap_ops);
 
 		tmem_frontswap_poolid = -1;
-		if (old_ops)
+		if (IS_ERR(old_ops) || old_ops) {
+			if (IS_ERR(old_ops))
+				return PTR_ERR(old_ops);
 			s = " (WARNING: frontswap_ops overridden)";
+		}
 		printk(KERN_INFO "frontswap enabled, RAM provided by "
 				 "Xen Transcendent Memory%s\n", s);
 	}