diff --git a/os/inputthread.c b/os/inputthread.c
index 6aa0a9ce6..ddafa7fe8 100644
--- a/os/inputthread.c
+++ b/os/inputthread.c
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ InputThreadRegisterDev(int fd,
 
     dev = NULL;
     xorg_list_for_each_entry(old, &inputThreadInfo->devs, node) {
-        if (old->fd == fd) {
+        if (old->fd == fd && old->state != device_state_removed) {
             dev = old;
             break;
         }
@@ -218,6 +218,9 @@ InputThreadRegisterDev(int fd,
         dev->readInputProc = readInputProc;
         dev->readInputArgs = readInputArgs;
         dev->state = device_state_added;
+
+        /* Do not prepend, so that any dev->state == device_state_removed
+         * with the same dev->fd get processed first. */
         xorg_list_append(&dev->node, &inputThreadInfo->devs);
     }