diff --git a/drivers/char/tpm/tpm-interface.c b/drivers/char/tpm/tpm-interface.c
index 129f640424b79..95db630dd722f 100644
--- a/drivers/char/tpm/tpm-interface.c
+++ b/drivers/char/tpm/tpm-interface.c
@@ -477,13 +477,15 @@ static ssize_t tpm_try_transmit(struct tpm_chip *chip,
 
 	if (need_locality) {
 		rc = tpm_request_locality(chip, flags);
-		if (rc < 0)
-			goto out_no_locality;
+		if (rc < 0) {
+			need_locality = false;
+			goto out_locality;
+		}
 	}
 
 	rc = tpm_cmd_ready(chip, flags);
 	if (rc)
-		goto out;
+		goto out_locality;
 
 	rc = tpm2_prepare_space(chip, space, ordinal, buf);
 	if (rc)
@@ -547,14 +549,13 @@ static ssize_t tpm_try_transmit(struct tpm_chip *chip,
 		dev_err(&chip->dev, "tpm2_commit_space: error %d\n", rc);
 
 out:
-	rc = tpm_go_idle(chip, flags);
-	if (rc)
-		goto out;
+	/* may fail but do not override previous error value in rc */
+	tpm_go_idle(chip, flags);
 
+out_locality:
 	if (need_locality)
 		tpm_relinquish_locality(chip, flags);
 
-out_no_locality:
 	if (chip->ops->clk_enable != NULL)
 		chip->ops->clk_enable(chip, false);