diff --git a/mm/sparse.c b/mm/sparse.c
index f13f2723950a..b1b14a9c4041 100644
--- a/mm/sparse.c
+++ b/mm/sparse.c
@@ -257,19 +257,14 @@ struct page *sparse_decode_mem_map(unsigned long coded_mem_map, unsigned long pn
 	return ((struct page *)coded_mem_map) + section_nr_to_pfn(pnum);
 }
 
-static int __meminit sparse_init_one_section(struct mem_section *ms,
+static void __meminit sparse_init_one_section(struct mem_section *ms,
 		unsigned long pnum, struct page *mem_map,
 		unsigned long *pageblock_bitmap)
 {
-	if (!present_section(ms))
-		return -EINVAL;
-
 	ms->section_mem_map &= ~SECTION_MAP_MASK;
 	ms->section_mem_map |= sparse_encode_mem_map(mem_map, pnum) |
 							SECTION_HAS_MEM_MAP;
  	ms->pageblock_flags = pageblock_bitmap;
-
-	return 1;
 }
 
 unsigned long usemap_size(void)
@@ -760,6 +755,7 @@ int __meminit sparse_add_one_section(struct pglist_data *pgdat,
 	ret = sparse_index_init(section_nr, pgdat->node_id);
 	if (ret < 0 && ret != -EEXIST)
 		return ret;
+	ret = 0;
 	memmap = kmalloc_section_memmap(section_nr, pgdat->node_id, altmap);
 	if (!memmap)
 		return -ENOMEM;
@@ -786,12 +782,11 @@ int __meminit sparse_add_one_section(struct pglist_data *pgdat,
 #endif
 
 	section_mark_present(ms);
-
-	ret = sparse_init_one_section(ms, section_nr, memmap, usemap);
+	sparse_init_one_section(ms, section_nr, memmap, usemap);
 
 out:
 	pgdat_resize_unlock(pgdat, &flags);
-	if (ret <= 0) {
+	if (ret < 0) {
 		kfree(usemap);
 		__kfree_section_memmap(memmap, altmap);
 	}