diff --git a/drivers/input/serio/i8042.c b/drivers/input/serio/i8042.c
index d3eda48032e3..944cbb519c6d 100644
--- a/drivers/input/serio/i8042.c
+++ b/drivers/input/serio/i8042.c
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ module_param_named(unmask_kbd_data, i8042_unmask_kbd_data, bool, 0600);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(unmask_kbd_data, "Unconditional enable (may reveal sensitive data) of normally sanitize-filtered kbd data traffic debug log [pre-condition: i8042.debug=1 enabled]");
 #endif
 
+static bool i8042_present;
 static bool i8042_bypass_aux_irq_test;
 static char i8042_kbd_firmware_id[128];
 static char i8042_aux_firmware_id[128];
@@ -343,6 +344,9 @@ int i8042_command(unsigned char *param, int command)
 	unsigned long flags;
 	int retval;
 
+	if (!i8042_present)
+		return -1;
+
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&i8042_lock, flags);
 	retval = __i8042_command(param, command);
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&i8042_lock, flags);
@@ -1612,12 +1616,15 @@ static int __init i8042_init(void)
 
 	err = i8042_platform_init();
 	if (err)
-		return err;
+		return (err == -ENODEV) ? 0 : err;
 
 	err = i8042_controller_check();
 	if (err)
 		goto err_platform_exit;
 
+	/* Set this before creating the dev to allow i8042_command to work right away */
+	i8042_present = true;
+
 	pdev = platform_create_bundle(&i8042_driver, i8042_probe, NULL, 0, NULL, 0);
 	if (IS_ERR(pdev)) {
 		err = PTR_ERR(pdev);
@@ -1636,6 +1643,9 @@ static int __init i8042_init(void)
 
 static void __exit i8042_exit(void)
 {
+	if (!i8042_present)
+		return;
+
 	platform_device_unregister(i8042_platform_device);
 	platform_driver_unregister(&i8042_driver);
 	i8042_platform_exit();