diff --git a/[refs] b/[refs]
index 31c5d6122d4a..5d0d23b07537 100644
--- a/[refs]
+++ b/[refs]
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 ---
-refs/heads/master: cedd1a16bbe00456fb9abda237e9b1c2bc763edd
+refs/heads/master: a9e39f9e80ac24367e375c8ea110dfaec837b020
diff --git a/trunk/drivers/staging/iio/industrialio-core.c b/trunk/drivers/staging/iio/industrialio-core.c
index fd4aadaa06f0..8eba592125d0 100644
--- a/trunk/drivers/staging/iio/industrialio-core.c
+++ b/trunk/drivers/staging/iio/industrialio-core.c
@@ -1033,6 +1033,15 @@ struct iio_dev *iio_allocate_device(int sizeof_priv)
 		device_initialize(&dev->dev);
 		dev_set_drvdata(&dev->dev, (void *)dev);
 		mutex_init(&dev->mlock);
+
+		dev->id = ida_simple_get(&iio_ida, 0, 0, GFP_KERNEL);
+		if (dev->id < 0) {
+			/* cannot use a dev_err as the name isn't available */
+			printk(KERN_ERR "Failed to get id\n");
+			kfree(dev);
+			return NULL;
+		}
+		dev_set_name(&dev->dev, "iio:device%d", dev->id);
 	}
 
 	return dev;
@@ -1041,8 +1050,10 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(iio_allocate_device);
 
 void iio_free_device(struct iio_dev *dev)
 {
-	if (dev)
+	if (dev) {
+		ida_simple_remove(&iio_ida, dev->id);
 		kfree(dev);
+	}
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(iio_free_device);
 
@@ -1100,14 +1111,6 @@ int iio_device_register(struct iio_dev *dev_info)
 {
 	int ret;
 
-	dev_info->id = ida_simple_get(&iio_ida, 0, 0, GFP_KERNEL);
-	if (dev_info->id < 0) {
-		ret = dev_info->id;
-		dev_err(&dev_info->dev, "Failed to get id\n");
-		goto error_ret;
-	}
-	dev_set_name(&dev_info->dev, "iio:device%d", dev_info->id);
-
 	/* configure elements for the chrdev */
 	dev_info->dev.devt = MKDEV(MAJOR(iio_devt), dev_info->id);
 
@@ -1115,7 +1118,7 @@ int iio_device_register(struct iio_dev *dev_info)
 	if (ret) {
 		dev_err(dev_info->dev.parent,
 			"Failed to register sysfs interfaces\n");
-		goto error_free_ida;
+		goto error_ret;
 	}
 	ret = iio_device_register_eventset(dev_info);
 	if (ret) {
@@ -1142,8 +1145,6 @@ int iio_device_register(struct iio_dev *dev_info)
 	iio_device_unregister_eventset(dev_info);
 error_free_sysfs:
 	iio_device_unregister_sysfs(dev_info);
-error_free_ida:
-	ida_simple_remove(&iio_ida, dev_info->id);
 error_ret:
 	return ret;
 }