diff --git a/sound/soc/sof/intel/hda-codec.c b/sound/soc/sof/intel/hda-codec.c
index 73f53916867b29..a3bb9ac98f1b58 100644
--- a/sound/soc/sof/intel/hda-codec.c
+++ b/sound/soc/sof/intel/hda-codec.c
@@ -24,19 +24,18 @@
 #define IDISP_VID_INTEL	0x80860000
 
 /* load the legacy HDA codec driver */
-#ifdef MODULE
-static void hda_codec_load_module(struct hda_codec *codec)
+static int hda_codec_load_module(struct hda_codec *codec)
 {
+#ifdef MODULE
 	char alias[MODULE_NAME_LEN];
 	const char *module = alias;
 
 	snd_hdac_codec_modalias(&codec->core, alias, sizeof(alias));
 	dev_dbg(&codec->core.dev, "loading codec module: %s\n", module);
 	request_module(module);
-}
-#else
-static void hda_codec_load_module(struct hda_codec *codec) {}
 #endif
+	return device_attach(hda_codec_dev(codec));
+}
 
 /* check jack status after resuming from suspend mode */
 void hda_codec_jack_check(struct snd_sof_dev *sdev, int status)
@@ -131,10 +130,16 @@ static int hda_codec_probe(struct snd_sof_dev *sdev, int address)
 	    (resp & 0xFFFF0000) != IDISP_VID_INTEL) {
 		hdev->type = HDA_DEV_LEGACY;
 		hda->hda_codec_mask |= BIT(address);
-		hda_codec_load_module(&hda_priv->codec);
+		ret = hda_codec_load_module(&hda_priv->codec);
+		/*
+		 * handle ret==0 (no driver bound) as an error, but pass
+		 * other return codes without modification
+		 */
+		if (ret == 0)
+			ret = -ENOENT;
 	}
 
-	return 0;
+	return ret;
 #else
 	/* snd_hdac_ext_bus_device_exit will use kfree to free hdev */
 	hdev = kzalloc(sizeof(*hdev), GFP_KERNEL);