diff --git a/drivers/tty/serial/rp2.c b/drivers/tty/serial/rp2.c
index 5690c09cc0417f..944a4c01057952 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/serial/rp2.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/serial/rp2.c
@@ -195,7 +195,6 @@ struct rp2_card {
 	void __iomem			*bar0;
 	void __iomem			*bar1;
 	spinlock_t			card_lock;
-	struct completion		fw_loaded;
 };
 
 #define RP_ID(prod) PCI_VDEVICE(RP, (prod))
@@ -664,17 +663,10 @@ static void rp2_remove_ports(struct rp2_card *card)
 	card->initialized_ports = 0;
 }
 
-static void rp2_fw_cb(const struct firmware *fw, void *context)
+static int rp2_load_firmware(struct rp2_card *card, const struct firmware *fw)
 {
-	struct rp2_card *card = context;
 	resource_size_t phys_base;
-	int i, rc = -ENOENT;
-
-	if (!fw) {
-		dev_err(&card->pdev->dev, "cannot find '%s' firmware image\n",
-			RP2_FW_NAME);
-		goto no_fw;
-	}
+	int i, rc = 0;
 
 	phys_base = pci_resource_start(card->pdev, 1);
 
@@ -720,23 +712,13 @@ static void rp2_fw_cb(const struct firmware *fw, void *context)
 		card->initialized_ports++;
 	}
 
-	release_firmware(fw);
-no_fw:
-	/*
-	 * rp2_fw_cb() is called from a workqueue long after rp2_probe()
-	 * has already returned success.  So if something failed here,
-	 * we'll just leave the now-dormant device in place until somebody
-	 * unbinds it.
-	 */
-	if (rc)
-		dev_warn(&card->pdev->dev, "driver initialization failed\n");
-
-	complete(&card->fw_loaded);
+	return rc;
 }
 
 static int rp2_probe(struct pci_dev *pdev,
 				   const struct pci_device_id *id)
 {
+	const struct firmware *fw;
 	struct rp2_card *card;
 	struct rp2_uart_port *ports;
 	void __iomem * const *bars;
@@ -747,7 +729,6 @@ static int rp2_probe(struct pci_dev *pdev,
 		return -ENOMEM;
 	pci_set_drvdata(pdev, card);
 	spin_lock_init(&card->card_lock);
-	init_completion(&card->fw_loaded);
 
 	rc = pcim_enable_device(pdev);
 	if (rc)
@@ -780,21 +761,23 @@ static int rp2_probe(struct pci_dev *pdev,
 		return -ENOMEM;
 	card->ports = ports;
 
-	rc = devm_request_irq(&pdev->dev, pdev->irq, rp2_uart_interrupt,
-			      IRQF_SHARED, DRV_NAME, card);
-	if (rc)
+	rc = request_firmware(&fw, RP2_FW_NAME, &pdev->dev);
+	if (rc < 0) {
+		dev_err(&pdev->dev, "cannot find '%s' firmware image\n",
+			RP2_FW_NAME);
 		return rc;
+	}
 
-	/*
-	 * Only catastrophic errors (e.g. ENOMEM) are reported here.
-	 * If the FW image is missing, we'll find out in rp2_fw_cb()
-	 * and print an error message.
-	 */
-	rc = request_firmware_nowait(THIS_MODULE, 1, RP2_FW_NAME, &pdev->dev,
-				     GFP_KERNEL, card, rp2_fw_cb);
+	rc = rp2_load_firmware(card, fw);
+
+	release_firmware(fw);
+	if (rc < 0)
+		return rc;
+
+	rc = devm_request_irq(&pdev->dev, pdev->irq, rp2_uart_interrupt,
+			      IRQF_SHARED, DRV_NAME, card);
 	if (rc)
 		return rc;
-	dev_dbg(&pdev->dev, "waiting for firmware blob...\n");
 
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -803,7 +786,6 @@ static void rp2_remove(struct pci_dev *pdev)
 {
 	struct rp2_card *card = pci_get_drvdata(pdev);
 
-	wait_for_completion(&card->fw_loaded);
 	rp2_remove_ports(card);
 }