diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/intel_dp_link_training.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/intel_dp_link_training.c
index 6c48219d770b..e0bb9f45b0c8 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/intel_dp_link_training.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/intel_dp_link_training.c
@@ -1292,6 +1292,28 @@ link_recovery_autoretrain_allowed(struct intel_dp_link_training *link_training)
 	return link_training->seq_train_failures < MAX_SEQ_TRAIN_FAILURES;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Record a link training failure and advance the recovery state to
+ * indicate the next required recovery step.
+ *
+ * The caller must proceed with recovery as instructed by the return
+ * value, either via automatic retraining or, once automatic retraining
+ * is no longer possible, via userspace modesets after fallback
+ * selection.
+ *
+ * See also:
+ *   - DOC: DisplayPort link training
+ */
+static bool
+link_recovery_mark_train_failure(struct intel_dp_link_training *link_training)
+{
+	if (link_recovery_autoretrain_allowed(link_training))
+		/* Move to autoretrain pending or autoretrain disabled state. */
+		link_training->seq_train_failures++;
+
+	return link_recovery_autoretrain_allowed(link_training);
+}
+
 /**
  * intel_dp_stop_link_train - stop link training
  * @intel_dp: DP struct
@@ -1828,6 +1850,7 @@ void intel_dp_start_link_train(struct intel_atomic_state *state,
 	struct intel_encoder *encoder = &dig_port->base;
 	struct intel_dp_link_training *link_training =
 		intel_dp->link.training;
+	bool autoretrain_allowed;
 	bool passed;
 	/*
 	 * Reinit the LTTPRs here to ensure that they are switched to
@@ -1859,8 +1882,7 @@ void intel_dp_start_link_train(struct intel_atomic_state *state,
 		return;
 	}
 
-	if (link_recovery_autoretrain_allowed(link_training))
-		link_training->seq_train_failures++;
+	autoretrain_allowed = link_recovery_mark_train_failure(link_training);
 
 	/*
 	 * Ignore the link failure in CI
@@ -1879,7 +1901,7 @@ void intel_dp_start_link_train(struct intel_atomic_state *state,
 		return;
 	}
 
-	if (link_recovery_autoretrain_allowed(link_training))
+	if (autoretrain_allowed)
 		return;
 
 	if (intel_dp_schedule_fallback_link_training(state, intel_dp, crtc_state))