diff --git a/drivers/ata/libata-core.c b/drivers/ata/libata-core.c
index 67f88027680ac..3ceda1fa243d1 100644
--- a/drivers/ata/libata-core.c
+++ b/drivers/ata/libata-core.c
@@ -3568,7 +3568,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(ata_wait_after_reset);
  *	Kernel thread context (may sleep)
  *
  *	RETURNS:
- *	0 on success, -errno otherwise.
+ *	Always 0.
  */
 int ata_std_prereset(struct ata_link *link, unsigned long deadline)
 {
diff --git a/drivers/ata/libata-sff.c b/drivers/ata/libata-sff.c
index 75217828dfe30..c9dbfb3641fcf 100644
--- a/drivers/ata/libata-sff.c
+++ b/drivers/ata/libata-sff.c
@@ -1708,16 +1708,15 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(ata_sff_thaw);
  *	Kernel thread context (may sleep)
  *
  *	RETURNS:
- *	0 on success, -errno otherwise.
+ *	Always 0.
  */
 int ata_sff_prereset(struct ata_link *link, unsigned long deadline)
 {
 	struct ata_eh_context *ehc = &link->eh_context;
 	int rc;
 
-	rc = ata_std_prereset(link, deadline);
-	if (rc)
-		return rc;
+	/* The standard prereset is best-effort and always returns 0 */
+	ata_std_prereset(link, deadline);
 
 	/* if we're about to do hardreset, nothing more to do */
 	if (ehc->i.action & ATA_EH_HARDRESET)